


A Heart of Darkness?

by alernatives



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Pretty much everyone is in this, Slow Burn, except... That doesnt happen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-10-25 19:40:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 53,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17731400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alernatives/pseuds/alernatives
Summary: A revelation concerning Vanitas's true nature leads Sora to try and befriend the boy who shares his face. Unfortunately, Vanitas is kind of an asshole and doesn't really want to have friends. But maybe the goodness in Sora's heart will be enough to wear him down?





	1. In Which the Destiny Trio Wants to Wed Naminé

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is based off of this post [here](http://the-coolest-ghoul.tumblr.com/post/182669404973/since-i-cant-find-the-forbidden-soravanitas) so if you want an outline for how this entire fic is going to go, there it is
> 
> sorry if my Kingdom Hearts Lore™ isnt completely accurate its been like a decade since ive played any of the older games... also im willfully bending certain elements of canon as i see fit

They were in the middle of a volleyball match, keyblade wielders (minus Lea) versus former Organization XIII members (minus Roxas and Xion), when the first Flood popped out of the sand and made a beeline for Tidus, the match referee. 

“Wha-?!” Tidus sputtered, jumping back amid a flurry of sand. 

“Unversed!” Ventus was first to react, keyblade materializing in a flash of light. The others soon followed suit, an array of weapons appearing in concert with a flood of Floods popping out of the shadows.

“Hey!” Lea complained, twirling his keyblade behind his head. “I totally just scored a point! Tidus! You better get that memorized! I expect to see that point on the board after we finish off these guys.”

“Ugh,” Sora agreed. “Couldn’t they have waited until after the match? Wait, doesn’t this mean Vanitas is here?” He swung his keyblade in an arc, dispatching four Floods at once. 

“Probably here for Ventus,” Riku remarked from over Sora’s shoulder, casting a Thundaga. “It’s getting kind of annoying.”

“He can try as much as he wants,” Aqua spat, freezing a large group with a well-placed Blizzaga, “and we’ll beat him every time.” 

It didn’t take very long for the Floods to be dispatched, the beach once again free of any threats. Ventus dematerialized his keyblade first with a drawn-out sigh. “I’ll go find him,” he said. “No need for anyone else to get involved. You guys continue the game without me!” he called out, already halfway down the beach.

“Hey, wait!” Sora called, jogging to catch up. “It’s dangerous to go alone! You should really have some kind of backup.” 

“Yes, you should,” Aqua agreed as she and Terra caught up to them. “We can stay out of the way if you want, but we should at least be nearby.” 

“Fine,” Ventus acquiesced. “More people will probably just piss him off, though.”

“He’s nothing we can’t handle,” Aqua remarked. 

“True enough,” Ventus agreed. “He’s mostly just a nuisance at this point. Either join us or leave us alone, you know? Xehanort’s gone, the war is over.”

“And good riddance,” Terra muttered. 

“Why do you think he keeps attacking you?” Sora asked, folding his hands behind his head. “He’s not still trying to fuse with you, is he? There’s no real reason to try to forge the χ-blade anymore.”

“No, I don’t think he cares about that anymore.” Ventus frowned. “I suppose he’s trying to prove himself over me. Or maybe he does want to fuse, but only to get a better body?”

“But you don’t want to fuse?” Sora asked.

“No. I’m fine without him. And he just wants to control me, anyway,” Ventus answered. 

“Well, you can always ask for Vanitas’s side once we meet him,” Terra said. 

“Yeah, but don’t expect him to give you a decent answer,” Ventus shot back.

The four of them walked farther along the beach of Destiny Islands, the sounds of the resumed volleyball game gradually fading behind them. 

***

They found Vanitas on one of the smaller islands inaccessible from the main area, Terra somehow managing to row them all there in the tiny, rickety wooden rowboat on the pier. The sun shone down mercilessly on the smaller island, which was mostly sand with one tall outcropping of rock in the center. Predictably, Vanitas sat on the top of the outcrop, helmeted head cradled in his hand and reflecting the ground below. 

“Hello, _brother_ ,” he sang out. “Brought your little friends along? Too scared to face me by yourself?”

Ventus rolled his eyes. “I can take you myself. They’re just spectating.”

“Oh, I think I can help keep them occupied.” Vanitas jumped down from the rock, darkness consuming the sand around him as the Unversed clawed their way into the sunlight. 

Keyblades flashed into being as everyone dropped into battle-ready stances. “Vanitas! We don’t have to do this!” Ventus called.

“We will always have to do this Ventus, for as long as we both exist. I can’t let my worse half start getting complacent now, can I?” Vanitas crooned back, smirk audible in his voice. 

“Okay,” Ventus muttered. “I tried. Alright, let’s get this over with, Vanitas. I’ve got a volleyball match to get back to.”

“Oh, look at you!” Vanitas yelled. “Think you’re so much better than me, huh?!” His keyblade appeared in a flash of fire, more Unversed springing forth from the sand. 

Rather than reply, Ventus sprang forward, keyblade whirling out for a strike.

***

“Well, that’s that?” Terra said, banishing his keyblade after one last look around the small island. “Back to the others, then!”

“Yeah,” Ventus sighed as Aqua’s Curaga washed over him, mending his cuts and bruises. “Hope we’re still winning.”

“They’ve probably finished the match by now,” Aqua said.

“Awww,” Sora whined. “I didn’t get to show off that secret move I’ve been practicing!” He kicked up a spray of sand with his foot. 

Terra chuckled. “If it’s the move that involves using your keyblade, I’m pretty sure that’s illegal.”

“Hey! It’s still cool!” Sora puffed out his cheeks in indignation. 

Together, the four of them began to head back to their little boat and then to the main island. The fight had taken a while, but they had all faced worse – Vanitas’s current power was only of fraction of what he had wielded previously. His taunts now rang empty and were easily ignored, and it didn’t take too much for Ventus to beat him back up the rock, where he quickly opened a Corridor of Darkness and made his exit before he could actually lose the fight. That was a recurring theme, now – Vanitas would show up with his Unversed, hoping to draw out Ventus to some remote location where they would fight. When Ventus inevitably began to gain the upper hand, Vanitas would slink off, reappearing a few weeks later for a reprise. Sora frowned as he turned it over in his mind. From what he knew of Vanitas’s history, he hadn’t really been the type to cut and run before – he would at least see battles out to their conclusion first. Maybe he was just toying with them, trying to lull them into a sense of complacency or enact some equally dastardly scheme. Or maybe he was just desperate and trying to keep up appearances. 

“Hey, Ventus?” Sora asked, stopping just behind the other boy. They were close enough to hear the others, now.

“Yeah?” Ventus stopped and turned to look at him.

“I know we’ve talked about this before, but Vanitas is weaker now than he used to be, right?”

“Yeah,” Ventus sighed. “Beating him now isn’t exactly easy, but it’s nothing compared to our fights in the past.”

“He’s definitely much weaker,” Aqua added. “Although his opinion of himself hasn’t seemed to change much.”

“And… that’s because…” Sora started.

“Probably because he’s had to reform so much recently,” Ventus continued for him. “He was trapped inside you for a while, Sora. Then we beat him again at the Keyblade Graveyard and he had to reform himself once more. It makes sense he wouldn’t be quite as strong as before.” Ventus shrugged. “That’s probably why he’s attacking so much, if that’s why you’re asking. He’s trying to rebuild his strength.”

“Probably why we keep having to fight so many Unversed, too,” Terra said. “He’s using them to gather negative energy, or something.”

“Right,” Sora sighed. “I guess I knew all that, huh?”

“It’s definitely frustrating,” Ventus said. “I wish he would just listen to me. There’s no point in all this fighting. He could still join us.”

“I agree, but complaining about it here isn’t going to get us anywhere,” Aqua said gently, laying a hand on Ventus’s shoulder. “Let’s get back to the others.”

“Huh, looks like the match is actually still going on,” Terra commented.

“What, really? I can still show Riku my cool new move!” Sora dashed off, thoughts of Vanitas banished at the prospect of showing off for his best friend.

“No, Sora! I told you there’s no keyblades in volleyball!” Terra shouted, running after him.

Ventus and Aqua shared a glance, then burst into giggles. 

***

The match ended in a sound defeat for the keyblade wielders, due in part to Sora’s use of illegal moves on the court. Sora pouted as he thought about it, lying on his bed staring up at the dark ceiling. The moon had risen above the waves some time ago, but Sora found himself still awake, pondering a potential ruleset for his new, better game, Keyblade Volleyball. He supposed he’d need to make the game possible for any weapon type, in order for the former Organization XIII to play, but that would complicate the types of moves that could be allowed…

A faint scuffling from outside drew Sora out of his thoughts. He rolled himself out of bed and towards his open window (he slept better at night, being able to hear the waves and know that he was home and Riku was home and Kairi was home and they were all going to stay that way) to investigate. Leaning his elbows on the wooden windowsill, he scanned the empty beach. Nothing. He found his eyes wandering over to the ocean instead, the blue waves turned black in the dark of night. Somehow it didn’t seem quite as vast and impenetrable a barrier as it had seemed so long ago, when he and Riku and Kairi talked of nothing but rafts and adventure and escape. 

The scuffling sound came again and drew Sora’s attention back to the beach. He frowned and scanned the beach once more, straining his eyes and looking more carefully this time. The moon was almost full, so the beach was mostly visible. But again, Sora could find nothing…

Wait. His eyes stopped by the palm tree. The scuffling sound played once more, and this time Sora thought he saw a shadow move by the base of the tree. He leaned further out the window, squinting, and made out a pair slit red eyes. An Unversed! Sora awkwardly climbed up on the windowsill before dropping down into the sand below and dashing for the tree.

He defeated the Unversed with a few swings of the keyblade, then drove the tip into the sand as he inspected the base of the tree to see if there were any more. Had they missed these earlier? Had Vanitas left a few behind before he disappeared?

“Oh, it’s _you_ ,” a voice sneered from behind him.

Sora spun around to find Vanitas standing a few feet away, helmet reflecting the moonlit waves. He reached for his keyblade, dropping into his battle stance. “Vanitas! Back for more?”

Vanitas scoffed. “As if you could be any challenge, loser. You aren’t even a keyblade master.” Yet he summoned his own keyblade and shot off a fireball.

Sora dodged to the side, and the fireball went hurtling out over sea. “Wait, we don’t need to fight! Isn’t once enough for today?” he called.

“So you say, but who reached for their keyblade first?” Vanitas shot back.

“Fine!” Sora banished his keyblade, then quickly jumped out the way of an attack. “Hey! No keyblade, see? We don’t have to fight!” 

Vanitas swung his keyblade again. “Quit mocking me!” he hissed. “You better call that keyblade back if you want to live, _Sora_.” 

“I won’t!” Sora said. “Why do you insist on fighting us, Vanitas? None of us want to, you know.”

Vanitas laughed. “As if I care what any of you want.”

“Are you just trying to fuse back with Ventus?” Sora pressed. “Why can’t you just talk to him?”

“None of your business,” Vanitas snarled, driving his keyblade forward and plunging it into the side of the palm tree when Sora rolled away. “That’s between me and Ventus.”

“But you aren’t talking to him, either!” Sora exclaimed. 

“What, do you want me to tell you all about my _feelings_?” Vanitas sneered, ripping his keyblade out and sending small slivers of tree flying. “You want to be my _friend_? Teach me the power of light and goodness?” He sent off another fireball.

Sora jumped up onto the tree. “ _Yes_! Is that so bad? We don’t have to be against each other! If not me, at least talk to Ventus!” 

“I am really sick of sharing a face with someone like you,” Vanitas ground out, anger palpable in his voice.

“At least tell us why! Give us some reason for this!” This was going nowhere. And really, why would it? Vanitas had said next to nothing on his own behalf in the months of his random attacks, only spouting his lines about wanting to fight and mocking the others until they were mad enough to do so, then leaving with some quick, parting insult. Sora mentally readied himself to call back his keyblade.

“Fine,” Vanitas said, to Sora’s surprise. “Here’s a reason: I’m going fuse back with Ventus and take over his body. My body. And then I can really be me, and everything will be better. For me, of course. But who cares about him?”

“Really be you…?” Sora frowned. And then flipped out the way of an incoming fireball, landing hard in the sand. “Hey, you’re already your own person. You don’t need Ventus for that.”

Vanitas lunged for him, keyblade swinging. “Ha! You think this body can get me anywhere? You think I want to live like this?”

“Like _what_?” Sora couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something he was missing here. He was quickly starting to feel out of his depth. 

“Like _this_ ,” Vanitas hissed, and darkness enveloped the ground around them. A lone Unversed clawed its way up to the light, but before Sora could react, Vanitas ran forward and cut it down. Sora’s eyes widened as he watched it fade away and absorb back into Vanitas, who shuddered noticeably. “I will make myself whole again, whether Ventus wants it or not.”

“That’s not right!” Sora protested weakly. The feeling of _there is something here you are not understanding_ had lodged itself uncomfortably in his stomach. 

“I’ve had enough of this,” Vanitas replied. “Fight me.”

Sora planted his feet and shook his head. “No.”

Vanitas fixed the blank stare of his helmet on Sora for a long moment. Finally, he deflated, lowering his arms back to his side. “Fine. There’s nothing here for me, then.” A Corridor of Darkness opened behind him, and before Sora could say anything he had stepped through it and vanished.

***

“Vanitas? Hmm. I can’t say I know too much about him off of the top of my head, but perhaps there is some data on him here I could dig up for you?” Ienzo said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. 

“Thanks, Ienzo!” Sora smiled up at him. He’d come to visit Radiant Garden, hoping to find something here that might explain what Vanitas didn’t. He’d been turning over their encounter all night and morning, trying to uncover whatever it was he seemed to be missing. He’d asked Ventus, but all he knew was that Vanitas’s existence was unstable in some way. That was probably part of Vanitas’s desire to fuse, but after last night Sora was sure some reason was running deeper than that. So he’d taken the Gummi Ship out to Radiant Garden right after breakfast, to pick the brains of his favorite researchers. 

“Vanitas, is it? He was created by Xehanort out of Ventus, correct?” Ansem the Wise asked. “We unfortunately cannot ask Xehanort anything, but perhaps looking at Ventus could teach us something?”

“I will search through our systems to see if Xehanort has left any research notes that might be of use. But if I may Sora, why do you want to know?” Ienzo asked.

Sora frowned as he thought it over. “It was something he said to me… I ran into him last night, and asked him why he was insisting on fighting us. He started talking about the usual stuff, wanting to fuse with Ventus, be whole… but he said something else about how he wanted to ‘make everything better’ and ‘stop feeling like this.’ And he cut down one of his own Unversed…”

“He attacked an Unversed?” Ienzo asked, surprise feuding with curiosity in his tone.

“Yeah. He called it out, but then he just beat it back before I could do anything. He absorbed it back into himself, but there was something weird about that too… The whole thing just bugged me. Like there’s something here I don’t know. So I thought I’d come here and ask you guys about it.”

“Can you describe what was weird about him absorbing the Unversed, Sora?” Ansem questioned.

“Umm, I dunno, it was just kind of unexpected? And he kind of… shuddered, when he absorbed it back. I guess he could feel it, somehow?” Sora mused. 

“I see,” Ansem said. “If the Unversed are formed from negative emotions, and they return to their master upon being defeated, then it is likely the negative emotions he felt that made the Unversed in the first place return to him as well. I imagine it would be an unpleasant sensation.”

“That’s true,” Ienzo added. “And if the Unversed are part of him, is it possible harming the Unversed might harm him as well?”

“So… every time we defeat an Unversed, the negative emotions return to Vanitas, and it hurts him? That’s… awful.” Sora’s frown deepened. 

“Well, this is all simply conjecture,” Ienzo said. “I’ll go see if I can dig up any data now. I’ll call you if I find anything, okay? Try not to worry about this too much.”

“Bring Ventus here sometime, Sora,” Ansem said. “We may be able to learn something from him as well.”

“Alright. Thanks, guys! You’re a big help.” Sora flashed them both a bright grin and walked back to the Gummi Ship, a slight bounce returning to his step. 

***

“Alright, alright, so… Bed, wed, behead: Naminé, Maleficent, and Selphie.” 

Kairi wrinkled her nose. “Sora, what kind of group is that?”

“Just tell us your answers already,” Riku laughed.

“Fine, fine. Uh… Behead Maleficent, wed Naminé, and bed Selphie.”

“Really? You’d marry your own Nobody?” Sora questioned, raising his eyebrows. “Isn’t that a little weird?”

“Maybe,” Kairi shrugged. “But we’ve definitely seen and done way weirder.”

“True enough,” Riku said. “My turn.”

They were hanging out in Sora’s bedroom, just the three of them. Riku had declared it too hot for any outdoor activities (“You’re just saying that because you got a sunburn yesterday,” Kairi had teased) so they’d all decided to lay on a pile of Sora’s blankets with the window open and the fan on full blast. A pitcher of ice-cold water rested within arm’s reach, but so far they’d mostly used it to pour water on each other for coming up with disgusting “bed, wed, behead” combinations. 

“Okay, Sora, bed, wed, behead: Xemnas, Ansem, and Ansem the Wise,” Riku said.

“Yuck!” Sora stuck his tongue out. “I really have to choose from those guys?”

“You really do,” Riku grinned. “C’mon, let’s hear it.” He dug an elbow into Sora’s side.

“Ugh,” Sora groaned as dramatically as he could. “Then… wed Ansem the Wise.”

“Interesting choice,” Riku commented. 

“Shut up. Bed… Ansem.”

“Ha. I’d bed him, too,” Kairi remarked.

“Gross, Kairi,” Riku said.

“What? He’s the best looking of the three!” she insisted. 

“Which leaves behead Xemnas,” Sora finished. “Ugh, that was awful.”

“My turn!” Kairi sang. “Riku, bed, wed, behead: Xion, Aqua, and Naminé.”

“Hmm…” Riku thought it over. “Wed Naminé, bed Aqua, behead Xion? I feel awful doing that to Xion, though.”

“I’m noticing a pattern with everyone wanting to wed Naminé,” Sora said. 

“She’s sweet.” Kairi shrugged. “I have one for you, too, Sora.”

“Oh, okay. Bring it on,” Sora grinned.

“Bed, wed, behead: Riku Replica, Naminé, and Vanitas.”

“…Okay,” Sora said, “I’m gonna have to wed Naminé.”

“See?” Riku laughed. “Naminé’s just the best choice.”

“And then… B-bed Riku Replica.”

“Wow, Sora, very forward of you,” Kairi teased.

“Quiet!” Sora groaned. “There is no good option here! I can’t win with this group!” Out of the corner of his eye, Sora noticed Riku was slightly flushed. 

“So you’d behead Vanitas, then?” Kairi prompted.

“Yeah, I guess.” Sora frowned. “I mean, wedding him would be awful and bedding him would just be weird. He looks just like me.”

“So you’re saying you wouldn’t have sex with your clone, then? Interesting,” Riku said. 

“What, and you would?” Sora asked. 

“Sure. It could be fun,” Riku replied with a nonchalant shrug. 

“I would too!” Kairi chimed in. “It’s just like masturbating, right? Nothing wrong with that.”

“It’s different!” Sora insisted. “It’s like a whole other person. It’s weird!”

“Only if you make it weird,” Riku said. 

“So then, you would bed Riku Replica, too?” Sora challenged.

Riku considered. “Yeah,” he decided. “My answer is exactly the same as yours. Sorry I don’t want to fuck your clone, Sora,” he apologized. “But he’s kind of an asshole.”

“He’s not my clone! Apologize to Ventus if you’re going to apologize to someone.”

“Ooh, Sora!” Kairi clapped her hands. “Bed, wed, behead: Ventus, Roxas, and Vanitas.”

“ _There’s_ a group,” Riku laughed. “Well, Sora?”

“Shouldn’t it be someone else’s turn?” Sora whined. “I’ve already-” He was cut off by a loud chime. He sat up and crawled over to the bed, snatching the Gummiphone from off its surface and taking the call. “Hello?”

“Hello!” Ienzo smiled back on the screen. “Just thought I’d update you on my progress! I’ve found some interesting notes from Xehanort, during his time as an apprentice here. It concerns the nature of darkness… some of it may apply to Vanitas.”

“That’s great!” Sora beamed. “Read anything interesting?”

“Vanitas?” Riku muttered, moving next to Sora to look at Ienzo. “Speak of the devil.”

“What’s this about Vanitas?” Kairi asked, moving to Sora’s other side. 

“Er, hello,” Ienzo said. “Sora asked me to look into anything concerning Vanitas… As far as these notes I found, the most interesting thing I’ve read so far is concerning the nature of pure darkness. These notes seem to insinuate that any being of pure darkness would be filled with negative emotions, and that such emotions would cause pain and drive the being to lash out at others… although these notes appear to be mostly conjecture. At this point Xehanort would have had no means of testing any of this. Still, it matches up with what Ansem and I both suspected, so I’d say there’s likely some truth to this. Nevertheless, I will continue searching for anything that might be more relevant.”

“Um, so what you’re saying is that… Vanitas attacks people… because…” Sora trailed off, face scrunched up in thought. 

“Because he’s in pain?” Riku finished. 

“That’s awful,” Kairi said. “But it’s no excuse to hurt others.”

“Indeed,” Ienzo agreed. “Still, after reading this, I feel it is fairly safe to assume that defeating the Unversed probably hurts Vanitas as well. If what you saw is typical, Sora, and Vanitas frequently fights the Unversed himself, he’s likely usually in a fair bit of a pain.”

“Why would he do that to himself?” Sora asked.

“That, I do not know.” Ienzo shook his head. “I’ll keep digging over here. You should bring Ventus by sometime, as we may discover more. But that’s all I have for now.” And with that, the call disconnected. 

Riku turned to Sora and raised an eyebrow. “So why are you looking into Vanitas?”

“Well…” As Sora launched into his recollection of his fight with Vanitas the night before, he found his mind wandering back to what Ienzo had said. Was that the real reason? Vanitas was hurting, and he thought fusing with Ventus would stop it?

“Hm… I agree that that’s a little strange,” Kairi said. “So you think he’s really hurting?”

“Yeah… I’m starting to,” Sora said. “I mean, you guys heard what Ienzo said. What do you think?”

“I think it would make sense,” Riku said. “The longer you’re in pain, the more desperate you’d become to get it to stop. If he thinks fusing with Ventus is the solution, it could explain why he keeps trying even though we beat him at every turn. But then again, it could be something completely else. We could be way off here.”

“I don’t think so,” Kairi mused. “I think what Vanitas said to Sora matches up with this theory. Saying he wants to get better and doesn’t want to live like this? That sounds like it could be a chronic pain thing to me.”

“That’s terrible, though,” Sora said, voice quiet. “No one deserves to feel like that.”

“It is,” Kairi agreed. “Maybe you should try talking to him again sometime.”

“I doubt you’d get anywhere,” Riku said. “And anyway, as terrible as it is, it still doesn’t excuse his actions.”

“I guess not,” Sora sighed. “Still. I want to help him if I can. I can’t just stand by if I know someone’s hurting. I have to help. I have to do something.”

Riku sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I know better than to try to discourage you from something like this,” he said wryly. “Just be careful, okay? He’s not our friend. He could hurt you.”

“I’ll support you, Sora,” Kairi said, lightly gripping his arm. “Let me know if I can do anything to help.”

“Thanks, Kairi.” Sora flashed her a brilliant smile. “Riku, I’ll be careful.” He had no idea what, exactly, he should do, but it would definitely have to involve seeing a lot more of Vanitas. Getting him to actually _talk_ instead of just taunt and fight would be a good staring place, he supposed. He sort of managed it last time, so maybe he could do it again? If he could get Vanitas to open up, he could get a better idea of how to help him. And then they wouldn’t have to fight anymore. This could benefit all of his friends, and maybe he could even make a new one! Sora’s head spun with newfound possibilities.

“Soo…” Kairi started after the silence had stretched into several minutes. “Does this change your answer at all, Sora?”

“Huh? What answer?” Sora blinked.

Kairi giggled. “Bed, wed, behead: Ventus, Roxas, and Vanitas.”

“Oh, yeah,” Riku snickered. “I’m still very interested in your answer.”

“Oh,” Sora flushed. “Well, let’s see…”


	2. In Which Sora Dons the Helmet

It was two weeks later, in the middle of a Struggle match in Twilight Town, when the Unversed popped out once again.

“Unversed!” Marluxia sounded the alarm this time, dropping his Struggle Bat and producing his scythe with a flourish. As the townsfolk ran screaming while monsters hopped out of shadowy alleyways, the Keyblade Organization (as the combined keyblade wielder/former Organization XIII group had jokingly taken to calling themselves) groaned collectively.

“Hey, you think these Struggle Bats would work on ‘em?” Demyx asked, thoughtfully turning over one of the foam bats in his hands.

“Uh, no?” Xion responded in a tone that left no doubts as to her thoughts on the strategic merits of Struggle Bats.

Demyx grinned sheepishly. “Alright, noted. I’ll leave all this to you guys, then.”

“How kind of you, Demyx,” Isa stated dryly.

“Looks like they’re going after the townsfolk, not us,” Ventus called out as a Flood darted away from him to follow the trail of a screaming woman. “We’ll need to split up.”

“Leave Vanitas to me this time!” Sora declared, puffing out his chest. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Leave it to you?” Ventus asked incredulously. “He’s after me.”

“You haven’t heard?” Riku said. “It’s Sora’s new mission to befriend Vanitas. He’s going to make him talk about his feelings and cure the darkness in his heart.”

“Riku!” Sora cried, indignant. He made it sound so ridiculous.

“Uh… then there wouldn’t be anything left? His heart _is_ darkness,” Ventus said, brow furrowed in confusion. “I guess you can go talk to him by yourself? If you really want to? But you shouldn’t expect much.”

“Great!” Sora beamed. “Then, uhh… do you know where he is?”

“Try the clock tower.” Ventus shrugged. “He does love to look down on people.”

“Okay! Thanks, Ventus!” Sora called out, running headlong towards the clock tower.

“Good luck, Sora!” Kairi yelled out after him, but he had already turned a corner and disappeared.

***

Vanitas was, indeed, on the clock tower, sitting with his feet dangling off the edge, the setting sun bouncing off his helmet as he watched the chaos unfolding in the city below. Sora thought he might have been humming to himself, but then it stopped as he stood and turned on hearing Sora’s footsteps behind him.

“Where’s Ventus?” Vanitas asked flatly.

“Down in the city cleaning up the mess you’ve caused,” Sora replied. “So I’m here instead.”

“He thinks he can just pass me off onto other people now?” he asked, voice tight, fists clenched tightly at his side. “Like some unwanted pet?”

“No, no one thinks-” Sora started, but Vanitas had already opened up a Corridor of Darkness and vanished before Sora could finish his sentence. Sora blinked. “Huh. Aw, man.” Well, that hadn’t gone how he’d pictured it. Three sentences, and all of them were about Ventus. That was hardly the start to a great friendship. Maybe he’d said the wrong thing? He’d have to choose his words more carefully, next time.

***

“Sora, what the hell did you say to Vanitas?” Ventus demanded as soon as Sora had met back up with him and Riku, his gaze accusatory. “I haven’t seen him that mad in a while.”

“Uhh… I dunno,” Sora admitted, rubbing the back of his head and flashing a sheepish grin. “I only got to say like two things, and then he ran off.”

“Yeah, ran straight to me. He’s only after me, he doesn’t care about any of the rest of you,” Ventus said.

“Yeah, I know,” Sora sighed. “I’ll have to do something differently next time.”

“Next time. You’re not giving up then, huh,” Riku stated more than asked.

“Nope!” Sora flashed him a bright grin, folding his hands behind his head. “Not until I get him to talk to me.”

“Can I ask why the sudden interest in talking to Vanitas?” a voice asked from around the corner, a few seconds before Xion emerged from an alleyway, closely followed by Kairi, Roxas, and Isa.

“Sora’s been doing research,” Kairi said.

“Research?” Ventus asked, looking between the two of them.

“Oh, yeah,” Sora answered, and he launched into his midnight encounter with Vanitas and subsequent investigation with Ienzo. “Which reminds me,” he finished, “Ventus, Ansem the Wise wants you to stop by Radiant Garden sometime. To see if we can learn anything about Vanitas from you.”

“So your theory is that Vanitas is lashing out at Ventus as some sort of… defense mechanism, then?” Isa asked.

“Seems to be the case,” Riku answered. “But who really knows?”

“What could they learn from me?” Ventus asked, shaking his head. “I know Vanitas came from me, and it’s true that I can… sense him, to some degree. But I have no idea what he’s really feeling beyond just surface-level emotions. I don’t even really know for sure why he keeps attacking me.”

“I don’t know, I’m not the scientist.” Sora shrugged.

“Maybe Ansem thinks you might have a relevant memory? Something you’ve forgotten, that they could dig up?” Xion suggested.

“Well, I’m all for it if it gets Vanitas off our ass,” Roxas grumbled, deftly ignoring Isa’s reflexive “language.” “He’s good practice to keep us in fighting shape, I guess, but he only ever attacks when we’re in the middle of something. It’s seriously irritating.”

“I guess I can drop by sometime,” Ventus conceded. “If Vanitas is involved, I have to be too, whether I like it or not.”

“That’s the spirit,” Riku deadpanned.

“But, Sora, did you get to talk to him?” Kairi asked.

“Uh… About that…” Sora started.

“No, he didn’t,” Ventus cut in. “Whatever he said just pissed Vanitas off and made him leave to go fight me.”

“Yeah, basically,” Sora said. “I barely got to say anything to him.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Kairi said, frowning. “Well, there’s always next time.”

***

Next time turned out to be only a few days later, while they were still in Twilight Town. Sora was in the forest with Aqua and Pence collecting ingredients for the Little Chef when he noticed a dark shadow slip away behind a tree. A Heartless? Or just more Unversed? Sora glanced around for the others, but neither of them were within his line of sight. Should he raise the alarm? He glanced back at where the shadow had disappeared. It looked like there had only been one, so surely he could handle it on his own. No need to bother the others. He carefully set down his fruit-laden basket and began to follow the shadow’s trail.

He followed the shadow to the gates of the old mansion, then watched it slip into the ground and flow inside past the door. Sora groaned. Nothing good ever happened in the old mansion. But he followed it inside anyway, pulling the door open very slowly and squeezing in as soon as there was a wide enough space to avoid any potential creaks that might give him away. He scanned the inside, but found no sign of the shadow. Probably behind one of the many closed doors, then.

The first few doors opened on empty rooms, but Sora found himself stopping before the door at the end of the hall. It didn’t look any different, but…

But it _felt_ different, in a way Sora couldn’t quite describe. And in a startling burst of clarity, Sora realized that what he was feeling must be Vanitas. He opened the door.

Vanitas sat on a chair by a window, the room around him bathed in shadow. But what gave Sora pause was the fact that his face was uncovered, with his muscles drawn tight and dark bags marring his golden eyes. “Vanitas!” Sora called when he could find his voice again, and the other boy turned, sneered at the sight of him, and materialized his helmet back over his face. Sora was spared one brief moment to wonder how all that hair managed to fit back into his helmet so neatly before the point of Vanitas’s keyblade was driving towards his heart. Sora yelped and rolled away. “Hang on, I don’t want to fight!” 

“Of course you don’t,” Vanitas spat. “You know you’re too weak to put up a challenge.” 

“That’s not it,” Sora sighed. 

“You’re weak and a coward,” Vanitas insisted, lunging for Sora again. “I was inside your heart too, or did you forget? You’re all alone. You couldn’t possibly achieve anything without your precious friends here to hold your hand.” 

“Hey,” Sora murmured, suppressing a flinch. A few months ago, those words might have struck a little too deep. Even now, they weighed heavily in his heart. 

Vanitas laughed. “See? Useless,” he taunted, swiping his keyblade towards Sora’s torso. 

Sora backed away at the last moment and shook his head. “No, listen to me! I don’t want to fight. And… and I don’t think you really do, either!” 

Vanitas paused at that, helmet dark and unreadable, before he burst into a fit of wild laughter. “Seriously?” he wheezed out. “What the hell do you even know about me, anyway?” 

Okay, so that wasn’t quite the right thing to say either. Sora felt he should start making a list. Don’t bring up Ventus, and don’t say he doesn’t want to fight. At least he hadn’t left, this time. Although when Vanitas recovered himself enough to attack again, Sora started to suspect that was a mixed blessing. “I know some things about you,” he insisted weakly. 

“Uh-huh,” Vanitas scoffed. “Call your keyblade and fight me already.” 

“If I win, will you talk to me?” Sora tried. 

“You won’t win.” 

“Oh.” If that was his stance, then Sora really didn’t feel like fighting. Then a thought occurred to him. Wouldn’t it be better to just cut right to the chase? There was a chance Vanitas might leave again, but it was better than this pointless back-and-forth. “Hey, why do you want to fight me so much anyway? I get fighting with Ventus, but why anyone else? Aren’t you hurting enough without adding on to it?” 

“What the _hell_ do you know,” Vanitas snarled, lunging for Sora’s heart once more. 

“I know you’re in pain!” Sora cried, jumping backwards to find himself trapped in a corner of the room. “You don’t have to deal with this alone! Let us help!” 

“I don’t need your help!” Vanitas screamed, stabbing his keyblade towards Sora. Sora reluctantly called forth his own keyblade to parry the blow, but Vanitas only grunted in frustration and smacked the keyblade across the room, the force of the blow numbing Sora’s hands. _Oh, shit._

The panic had approximately two seconds to settle into Sora before Aqua burst into the room, keyblade in hand. Her eyes flickered between Sora and Vanitas, and then a Blizzaga bloomed in between them, forcing Vanitas back. Vanitas shook with what Sora could only assume was rage, but instead of turning on Aqua, he wordlessly opened a Corridor of Darkness and vanished. Sora let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. 

“Sora!” Aqua ran over to him, concern shining in her eyes. “Are you alright? Do you need healing?” 

“No, I’m fine. Sorry…” he said, voice shaky. 

“Pence and I filled up our baskets, but we couldn’t find you,” Aqua explained. “We split up to look when I thought I heard something coming from the old mansion… I’m glad I decided to check.” 

“Yeah, me too,” Sora smiled weakly. 

“Sora, listen to me,” Aqua said, placing her hands on his shoulders and gazing into his eyes. “I know you’re trying to help him. And I know he’s not as strong as before, and that fighting him has practically become our hobby. I know. But _he is dangerous_ , Sora. You need to remember that. He is neither weak nor helpless, and he will not hesitate to hurt you.” 

“I know, I know.” Sora felt a little like a child being admonished by their mother, and shame curled in the pit of his stomach as he realized she was right. “I should have let you guys know where I was going. And I should have stayed more aware. I’m sorry.” 

Aqua breathed out, dropping her hands back to her side. “It’s okay, Sora. I just want you to be careful. Let’s go back to town, okay?” 

The walk back to town was quiet, and Sora spent most of it thinking. Aqua was right, and he was going to need a different approach if he wanted to continue with The Plan, as Riku had taken to calling it. But what could he do differently? They’d fought Vanitas for months and nothing had come of it. Trying to get him to carry on a conversation was worse than going to the dentist, and everything Sora said to him seemed to either offend him or annoy him. By the time they made it back to the bistro, Sora was still no closer to an answer. 

He groaned in frustration. “That’s it! I’m going to Radiant Garden to check up on Ienzo. I need something new, or The Plan’s gonna fail.” 

Aqua nodded. “I think that’s a good idea. I’ll see if I can’t convince Ventus to go with you.” 

“Thanks, Aqua! That’d be a big help,” Sora grinned. 

“Uh, I’m not really sure what’s going on here, but good luck, Sora…?” Pence offered. 

“Alright! Talk to you guys later!” And Sora took off for the Gummi Ship. 

***

“Hmm. He does seem to be rather defensive. I think your words must have touched on a sore spot, Sora,” Ienzo remarked upon hearing of Sora’s latest Vanitas encounter.

“So, you believe this whole pain theory thing?” Ventus asked.

“Well, it’s certainly our most plausible theory at this time. And all the data Sora has been gathering only seems to reinforce this theory.”

“Hey,” Sora interjected. “This is a person we’re talking about, not a science experiment.”

“Of course, you’re right. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise,” Ienzo apologized.

“He kind of is a science experiment, though,” Ventus frowned. “Xehanort’s attempt to forge the χ-blade.”

“Yes, speaking of Xehanort,” Ienzo brightened up. “I’ve finished going through all of his relevant notes we have on file. Some of these notes are highly specific – I’ve had Even take a look as well, and we suspect that Xehanort may have subconsciously retained some of his knowledge from before he became an apprentice here.”

“Uh, he may have… what?” Sora asked.

“You are aware that Xehanort lost his memory, yes? When he came to us here, he had no recollection of his past, and this past includes the creation of Vanitas. However, some parts of his notes are very specific, and we suspect certain passages may even directly be referencing Vanitas,” Ienzo explained.

“So some part of him was remembering Vanitas without his really being aware of it?” Ventus asked.

“Basically, yes, that is what we believe. Here, allow me to summarize some of the relevant passages.” Ienzo turned to his computer, opening up a file. “Here it states that pure darkness, by itself, is a highly unstable energy source. It is extremely powerful and supposedly much stronger than anything pure light can create, but is prone to collapsing under the weight of its own power. Some sort of counterbalance is required to keep the darkness in check.” He opened up a different file. “Here he theorizes on the properties a being of pure darkness would possess. Supposedly such a creature would be immensely powerful, but highly unstable and given to uncontrollable outbursts of energy. Additionally, an existence without any form of light to act as a counterweight to its negative energies would cause it pain, and it would naturally seek out sources of light in order to ease its own suffering. Xehanort posits that only by absorbing light into itself would it be able to stop its pain. Absorbing any form of darkness or negativity, on the other hand, would hurt it more, although it would also make the creature stronger.”

“So Vanitas sends out the Unversed to collect negative emotions,” Ventus said, “but in order for him to receive those emotions and get stronger, he has to absorb the Unversed back into himself. And this causes him pain?”

“If Xehanort’s notes are to be believed, yes, that is the case,” Ienzo answered.

“So all of his efforts to get stronger are really just him hurting himself?” Sora asked. “Or… it’s like an unfortunate side-effect to getting stronger. An endless cycle of pain and negativity?”

“He’s trying to fuse with me so he can stop hurting, but he’s hurting himself in an effort to become strong enough to beat me,” Ventus sighed. “What a mess. How do we even begin to fix this?”

“That’s what my master wants you for, I believe,” Ienzo told Ventus. “You should speak to him about it.”

They found Ansem outside in the garden. “Ah, yes. I would like to examine your heart, Ventus, if you don’t mind.”

“My heart?” Ventus took an instinctive step back.

“You have my word that I will do nothing more than examine it. I will not seek to change or damage your heart in any way,” Ansem said gravely.

“I…” Ventus looked to Sora, who nodded encouragingly. “Okay. I guess that’s fine.”

“Thank you, Ventus. Come with me, then, no time to waste. Sora, would you mind waiting here? This should only take an hour or so.” And he left, Ventus trailing along behind.

Sora thought over what Ienzo had told them before. It wasn’t really new information, but it confirmed what they’d been suspecting. So that was good. Or, rather, that was horrible, because it meant that Vanitas was constantly in pain. And likely causing some of that pain himself. And his main motivation for his attacks and general antagonism was probably just to finally end the pain. But horrible as that was, it meant Sora knew what should come next in The Plan. They needed to come up with a concrete way to help him, something they could explain to him to gain his trust. If they could cure him, he’d have no reason to attack them, right? And everyone could be friends.

It seemed not even ten minutes later when Ansem returned with Ventus. Had Sora really spent so long thinking about this? He could picture Riku in his head, teasingly pointing out that Sora had just set a new personal record for thinking. “So?” he asked when the two were within hearing range.

“It is as I suspected,” Ansem told him. “Ventus’s heart has healed remarkably well. Some darkness has returned to it, but it remains mostly light. And the fractures caused by pulling out Vanitas are almost entirely healed over. Simply put, I do not believe there is any way for the two to fuse anymore, at least not into one complete being, as they were before the split. Were their hearts to join, they would remain separate.”

“And that means…?” Sora prodded.

“Basically, we could inhabit the same body, but we would keep separate consciousnesses,” Ventus answered. “Like how I was in your heart, Sora. We didn’t fuse into one person, even after all that time – we remained separate beings, and I was able to go back into my own body. Ansem thinks that means that even fusing wouldn’t be quite enough to help Vanitas.”

“Oh.” Sora frowned in thought. “Well, that’s good for you. But what about Vanitas?”

“Ienzo is of the opinion that any contact with light may aid in healing,” Ansem said. “Light can be forcibly absorbed, but it can also be shared. Friends tend to share light frequently, and often unknowingly. A strong bond can also be a source of light in itself. It is possible these things may help Vanitas, but we cannot be sure.”

“So The Plan was right!” Sora exclaimed. “Becoming friends is the first step to helping him. But… oh,” Sora deflated. “That means I’m back to square one. He definitely doesn’t want to be my friend.”

“C’mon, you’re not giving up already, are you?” Ventus asked. “Actually, I think I might be able to help you. Next time Vanitas shows up, I’ll go with you to talk to him.”

“Okay.” Sora nodded. “At least that way he’ll be less likely to run off, I guess.”

***

Sora’s trial run of Keyblade Volleyball was proving disastrous. The rules were hastily constructed and amended as the game dragged on, and no one could seem to remember what was and wasn’t allowed, including Sora himself. Lea, the only person that seemed to have a clear grasp of the game, was using this knowledge to exploit loopholes and earn himself points. Several Organization XIII members, most notably Luxord, were having trouble scoring any points at all due to the unconventionality of their weapons. So when the Unversed showed up in the middle of yet another argument between Aqua and Riku on whether or not magic should be allowed, Sora was almost glad. “Unversed!” he cried, trying to keep his relief from bleeding into his voice.

It was a relatively small group of Unversed, and they were dispatched quickly. Afterwards, Ventus made his way over to Sora and clapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s go, then,” he said, and turning to the others called, “Sora and I have got this! You guys can, uh… maybe play a match of regular volleyball?” There was a chorus of grateful agreements.

“Will you two be alright?” Aqua asked, her eyes fixed on Sora.

Sora flashed her a smile and a thumbs-up. “We’ll be fine! I’m not alone this time.”

Aqua nodded. “Alright. Be careful. Scream real loud if you need us.”

“Uh, will that work?” Sora asked. He’d be surprised if Vanitas was within screaming distance.

Aqua winked and walked away.

Ventus grinned at him. “C’mon, Sora, it’s time to use the purity in your heart to cleanse a corrupted soul, or something.”

“Why does everyone keep phrasing it like that?” Sora complained. “I’m not a princess of heart.”

They walked along the main beach, through the middle of the island and over towards the other side, where there was a long, empty stretch of beach. Vanitas sat under a palm tree, facing the waves. He stood at their approach, turning to face them and summoning his keyblade in one motion.

“Ventus,” he called, and Sora could picture the grin on his face. “About time. I was getting tired of waiting. Attacking the islanders was starting to sound like a fun way to kill time.”

“Vanitas,” Ventus greeted, walking right by him and hopping up to sit on the bent palm tree. He wriggled around for a moment, then relaxed into a casual lean against the trunk. “I’ll fight you when you’re done talking to Sora.”

“What,” Vanitas said, voice flatter than the distant horizon.

“Huh?” Sora agreed. That was his help?

Ventus waved a hand at the two of them, then folded his arms behind his head and gazed off into the sea. “Get on with it, then. And don’t try to just attack me or the other islanders,” he warned, shooting a glance at Vanitas. “I’ll just leave and let my friends take care of it. But if you talk to him, I’ll fight you one-on-one.”

Vanitas stared at Ventus for a long moment, his fists clenched tightly at his side. Sora glanced between the two of them nervously, certain that Vanitas was about to attack and potentially catch Ventus off guard, but then, to his utter astonishment, Vanitas turned to Sora and spat, “Talk.”

Sora blinked. This was really going to work? He should start with what he’d been thinking since their last encounter, then. “Um, so, about the other day… I’m sorry.” He clasped his hands together, then rubbed his thumbs together nervously. “I didn’t mean to imply that you need help or anything. I know you don’t. Just, you know. If you _want_ help…” he trailed off awkwardly, shifting his gaze away from the blank, impassive stare of Vanitas’s helmet.

“I don’t,” Vanitas said.

Silence.

After a long moment, Vanitas turned back to Ventus. “We talked. Satisfied?”

This wouldn’t do. Sora had barely accomplished anything, _again_. At this rate The Plan would never come to fruition and Sora would still be chasing after Vanitas as an old grandpa. He shuddered at a vision of himself, hair gray and back stooped, wielding his keyblade as a walking stick to shake at wayward Unversed invading his lawn. Sora didn’t even want a lawn! Panic floating up his throat like bubbles, he blurted out the first coherent thought he was able to pull together: “Wait! Tell me, how do you manage to fit all your hair into your helmet?”

Vanitas very slowly turned back to face him. “What?” His tone was as condescending as always, but Sora thought he might have heard genuine confusion as well. Which was fair, considering how left-field the question had been.

“Your hair.” Sora decided to roll with it, for lack of anything better to say. “It’s like mine, right? It just sorta… goes everywhere. How do you manage to fit it all into that helmet? It doesn’t seem like there’d be enough room.”

“I don’t know. It just fits,” Vanitas replied. He was still for a moment, and then he did something even more unexpected than agreeing to talk to Sora. He dropped his keyblade, reached up with both hands, and lifted the helmet off.

Sora gaped. Vanitas’s hair sprang out into wild spikes the moment the helmet was off, and he rubbed a hand over his chin where the metal frame of the helmet usually rested. And then he chucked the helmet at Sora’s head with great force.

Sora caught it, staggering back a step and trying to ignore the stinging in his palms. He turned the helmet over in his hands. It was fully formed, not open like Vanitas wore it occasionally. The metal frame at the bottom looked sharp. Wouldn’t that hurt, to have that digging into your skin all the time? He tested the edge of it with a finger and quickly drew it back. Yup, about as sharp as it looked. He ran his hand over the surface of the helmet. It seemed like some sort of smooth glass. There was no mechanism to it that he could make out. How did Vanitas make it open and close like that? He turned the helmet so he could peer inside. It was very dark, but he couldn’t see any sort of mechanism there either. Did Vanitas control it with his mind or something?

Asking stupid questions had gotten him this far, so Sora decided to try his luck again. “Can I try it on?”

“You’re holding it, aren’t you?” came the reply.

Was that permission? Sora decided to take it that way. He lifted the helmet up and then lowered it over his head. A sharp pain instantly stabbed through the lower part of his face. “Agh!” he yelped. The metal helmet frame? Sora tried to look down, then realized that the whole world had gone dark. He whipped his head around, but he could no longer make out anything, only darkness everywhere, spreading all around him. He blindly reached for his face, feeling for the edges of the helmet, and the world abruptly burst back into light and color.

Vanitas was much closer than before, with a distinctly unpleasant leer on his face. “Having fun?” he asked.

Sora ran his hands over his head and encountered the sharp metal spreading over the bottom half of his face. He was still wearing the helmet, then. Had it opened up? “H-How do you control this thing?” He moved his hands away from his face, and the darkness instantly slammed back over his senses.

He jumped when he felt something touch him, and then the world burst into view once more. Vanitas was cupping Sora’s cheek in one hand and looking positively gleeful, eyes shining and mouth stretched in a cruel grin. “You’re really bad at this,” he told Sora.

“You look really weird, Sora,” Ventus offered from his tree. His posture was no longer quite so relaxed, but he hadn’t moved from his perch. Did that mean Sora wasn’t in immediate danger? He didn’t feel very safe. Vanitas was still leering at him. And touching him.

“How can you see in this thing?” was the question he settled on asking, since Vanitas didn’t seem too keen on telling him how to control it.

“You can’t see through it?” Vanitas’s grin, impossibly, grew wider. “You’re so pathetic,” he crooned.

Sora tried not to feel fear. He was pretty sure Vanitas would be able to smell it. “You… can see in the dark?”

“Of course I can. I _am_ the dark.”

Ignoring the last part of that statement, that was actually pretty cool. “Then, does bright light bother you?” he asked. Nocturnal things hated being in the sunlight, right? Did that apply here?

“Oh yes,” Vanitas nodded. “Light bothers me _very much_.” He tightened his hand on Sora, fingers digging into his cheek.

Sora was very scared and absolutely positive that Vanitas could smell it.

Apparently Ventus could too, because the next moment he was hopping off his perch and calling his keyblade. “Okay, good talk,” he called. “We can fight now.”

Vanitas didn’t spare Sora a second glance, removing his hand and ripping the helmet off, transferring it back onto his own head. Sora blinked, staggered a few steps, and then collapsed into the sand to watch the fight.

***

“Okay,” Ventus said on their walk back to the other end of the island. “That was weird.”

“Yeah…” Sora couldn’t find it in him to say much. The whole encounter had left him feeling very unsettled.

“I think… he’s really trying to get rid of you,” Ventus said after a moment. “I mean, he’s always mean and condescending, but he isn’t normally such a creep. He really wants you to leave him alone.”

“Great,” Sora sighed. “This Plan is going so well.”

“Hey, don’t give it up,” Ventus clapped him on the shoulder. “You’ve gotten more out of him than most. That was the first time I’ve ever seen him take his helmet off completely. And he never even attacked you. I think you could really get somewhere, if you keep it up.”

“…Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Sora said. “I knew this probably wouldn’t be easy. I shouldn’t give up just yet.”

“That’s the spirit,” Ventus grinned. “Now, let’s get back to our hopefully normal game of volleyball.”

“Keyblade Volleyball!” Sora groaned. “There’s another thing I need to work on.” Things may be looking down now, but who knows? If he worked hard enough, maybe someday he’d get to play Keyblade Volleyball with Vanitas. Sora smiled at the thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think marluxia’s somebody is lauriam?? but that hasn’t been confirmed so he’s still marluxia here
> 
> this chapter is kinda... :/ more background and development. hopefully i’ll get to the good shit soon


	3. In Which Even Teaches Chemistry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter veers into headcanon territory pretty fucking fast

“He really let you wear his helmet?” Kairi asked, eyes wide.

Sora nodded. “Yup. It isn’t very comfortable. I couldn’t see anything through it, either. It was kind of an awful experience.” He rubbed at his cheeks as he remembered it, picturing the smooth metal frame in his head.

“And did he really _touch_ you? In a non-violent manner?” Riku asked.

Sora nodded again, then thought about it more and shook his head. “Non-violent, but definitely very threatening. It wasn’t a friendly touch.”

The three of them were crowded in Kairi’s kitchen, standing over the counter and devouring large spoonfuls of strawberry ice cream straight from the carton in between sentences. Sora still wasn’t sure exactly what to make of his last encounter with Vanitas, but he was hoping his best friends might be able to help him interpret it. 

Kairi was frowning. “That’s kinda creepy,” she said.

“Very creepy,” Riku agreed. “I don’t think he wants to be your friend, Sora. Maybe a pure heart isn’t enough for this one.”

“I don’t have a pure heart!” Sora protested, waving his spoon. “That’s Kairi! Anyway, I’m not giving up. That was the first time we managed to have a conversation without him attacking me.”

“That’s true,” Kairi said. “I’m sure that’s a good sign. It still seems like he doesn’t want to be talking to you, but maybe he’s starting to see that fighting isn’t worth it?” 

“Or he’s just learned that fighting isn’t going to dissuade you, and is trying new methods of getting rid of you,” Riku warned around a mouthful of ice cream.

Sora sighed, too put out to bother teasing Riku for his bad eating habits. “Yeah, Ventus pretty much said the same thing. That it’s just a new way of trying to shake me off.”

“…But,” Kairi started, setting her spoon down, “I think there’s a bit more going on here. Think about it. Why does Vanitas even wear a helmet? It’s got to be to hide his face, right? You’ve managed to break it before, so obviously it isn’t that effective as armor. And you said Ventus told you he’s never seen him completely remove the helmet before.”

“Wait wait wait,” Riku interrupted. “You really think it’s some psychological thing? That he hides his face to hide his emotions, or something?”

“Yes!” Kairi exclaimed, eyes shining. “It must be! If it isn’t literal armor, it’s the metaphorical kind! And for him to take it off and give it to Sora… I don’t think that should be taken so lightly.”

Riku shook his head. “Kairi, I think you might be reading too much into it. It’s just a helmet. He’s hardly about to start crying on Sora’s shoulder or ask to braid his hair.”

“Well, no, but I think it was symbolic. Like Sora’s got past at least one of his walls, or something,” she insisted.

“Yeah… I dunno,” Sora said, polishing off the last of the ice cream. “I want to believe you, Kairi, but it didn’t really feel like we made any sort of meaningful connection… But I think I might have learned something about how to talk to him from all of that?”

“Oh yeah?” Riku asked. “And how does one talk to Vanitas?”

“Ask random, stupid questions,” Sora shrugged. “I think I threw him off so much, he just kinda… answered me before he could really stop and think about it.”

Riku laughed. “Yeah, you would manage to befriend someone that way.”

“So are you going to keep doing that?” Kairi asked.

“Yeah, I guess,” Sora answered. “I don’t have any better plan.”

“Playing twenty questions with Vanitas,” Riku sighed. “Only you, Sora.” 

“I still think I’m right about the helmet,” Kairi said. 

“It’s not always that deep, Kairi,” Riku said.

“How about I get back to you on that one,” Sora offered. “Maybe it’ll… become that deep, or something?”

“Okay, let me know any time he takes the helmet off!” Kairi chirped.

Riku rolled his eyes, but couldn’t quite keep the fond smile off of his face.

***

Sora’s chance to enact his new step in The Plan, “Get to Know Vanitas,” didn’t arrive until a week later. He was engaged in a sandcastle building competition with Terra, Ventus, Naminé, Roxas, and Lea when the Unversed popped out of the ground and simultaneously ruined everyone’s sandcastles. Sora stared in dismay at the ruins of what had been his perfectly constructed turret, modeled in the style of Beast’s Castle.

“Are you serious?” Roxas yelled, throwing himself headlong into combat. “I was set to win this thing!”

“Ugh!” Lea shouted in agreement. “I was totally going to win, but more to the point,” he raised his voice until he was practically screaming, “ _how much of an asshole do you have to be, Vanitas?_ ” 

Sora felt a hand clap his shoulder and looked up to see Ventus leaning over him. “We should probably sneak off now,” Ventus told him. “If Roxas and Lea get to Vanitas first, I don’t think you’ll get to do much talking.” 

“We shouldn’t just leave them to deal with the Unversed by themselves!” Sora protested.

Ventus surveyed the group of Unversed clustered around them. There were only a few of them, all Floods. He wordlessly turned and leveled an unimpressed look at Sora.

“…Yeah, okay, I guess they’ll be fine on their own,” Sora admitted, standing and dusting the sand off his pants. “I’m sure they’ll see us leave, though.” 

“Terra can keep them distracted.” Ventus waved to Terra, who waved back and flashed them a thumbs-up. 

“I can erase some memories, if you need me to?” Naminé offered, grinning.

“Um, no, that’s okay,” Sora told her. Then, to Ventus: “Let’s go, I guess.”

They trekked along the beach until they reached Vanitas standing on an empty stretch that actually wasn’t very far from where they had been. Sora wondered if Vanitas had heard Lea’s angry screeching. 

“Hey Vanitas,” Ventus called. “Guess what? You get to talk to Sora again.” He plopped down into the sand. “I’m going to start remaking my sandcastle, and if you destroy it again, I swear I will never fight you again, ever.”

“Your castle was pathetic and you were going to lose,” Vanitas told him. “I practically did you a favor.” 

Ventus rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath, but kept his eyes fixed firmly on his newly constructed (and admittedly kind of sad, Vanitas probably had a point) castle turret. 

Vanitas turned his head to Sora, bright sun glinting off his dark helmet.

“Uh… hi,” Sora said, stupidly.

Vanitas said nothing. Sora imagined him rolling his eyes, if only so the silence would be less unnerving. 

“So… What’s your favorite color?” Sora tried.

“Black.” The reply was immediate. 

Okay, yeah, that one was pretty obvious. “Mine’s yellow!” Sora told him.

“I don’t care.”

“Um… favorite food?”

Vanitas seemed to consider that one. “Hmm… rage,” he said after a short silence. “Or no, maybe despair?” 

“You- what?” Sora sputtered, staring incredulously. From his peripheral vision, he noticed Ventus look up, frowning. “Do you _eat_ negative emotions?”

“In a manner of speaking.” Vanitas took a step forward, then another, and another, until they were only a few feet apart. “Rage is good. It’s got a nice bite to it. Always makes me feel energized. But despair?” The helmet opened up, and Sora found himself staring into yellow eyes, Vanitas’s face stretched into that cruel grin that was practically his trademark. Some distant part of Sora’s mind made a note to tell Kairi about this. “To taste someone’s fear, to feel how weak and pathetic they are and to know how much stronger I am, to know how easily I could crush them into nothing… there’s nothing like it.” He moved closer. “I remember how your despair tastes, Sora. It’s something I wouldn’t mind having again.”

Sora took a step back. “I’ll… keep that in mind?” He did his best to maintain an aura of _happy_ and _calm_. Then the full weight of what Vanitas had said caught up to him. “Wait, when have you eaten my despair?”

“You keep forgetting that I was in your heart,” Vanitas murmured, taking another step forward. “I’ve tasted most of your emotions.”

Sora wrinkled his nose as he considered that. There was a lot he could say, but he settled on, “Well, thanks, I guess?”

Uncertainty flickered across Vanitas’s face. “What?”

“Yeah, thanks!” Sora repeated. “I’m not sure I really get it completely, but… it sounds kind of like when Riku ate my nightmares as my Dream Eater. He helped keep me safe. If you were just… uh, eating my negative emotions without causing them, then that doesn’t sound so bad! So, thanks,” Sora finished, looking down and scuffing up sand with his toe. He chanced a quick look up at Vanitas.

Vanitas seemed to be stuck somewhere between outrage and confusion. His brows were furrowed, mouth twitching in a frown, eyes flickering back and forth between Sora’s. He looked faintly flushed. Sora flashed him an uncertain smile. That seemed to pull Vanitas back together, and he scoffed and stepped back. “I didn’t do it to help you.”

“Still, though,” Sora insisted. “Anyway, when I asked about your favorite food I was thinking more, actual food? And not emotions? What’s your favorite food that’s also something that other people eat?”

Vanitas frowned at him. “I don’t have one.”

“Don’t have one? There must be something you like!”

Vanitas‘s frown deepened. “There isn’t. I have no need for such things.”

“No need? What does that mean?” Sora asked.

“I don’t need to eat. My body isn’t weak like yours,” Vanitas sneered.

“ _You don’t eat?_ ” Sora asked, mouth hanging open. “How? Everyone has to eat!” 

“The darkness is enough to sustain me. And clearly, it’s doing more for me than your food is for you,” Vanitas stated acidly, eyeing Sora up and down. 

“But- but everyone eats,” Sora protested. “I mean, you could at least eat food for the taste. Eating is fun.”

“I’ll pass.”

“You won’t know you don’t like it if you don’t try it!” Sora pressed. “At least try something! You could have-” He gasped as realization hit. “ _You’ve never had paopu?_ You have to try a paopu fruit, at least!” 

Vanitas scowled. “No.”

“C’mon! Please?” Sora drew out his “please,” giving his best puppy-dog look. 

Vanitas turned to Ventus. “I’m tired of this. Let’s fight.”

Ventus was watching them, apparently having forgotten his (very misshapen) sandcastle. He looked between Sora and Vanitas, frowning thoughtfully, then stood up, brushed himself off, and summoned his keyblade. “Yeah, alright,” he said. “Let’s fight.”

“ _Finally_ ,” Vanitas muttered, closing his helmet back up and leaping towards his other half. 

Sora pouted as he watched them, kicking up sprays of sand with his feet. He hadn’t finished talking, but at least he had something for next time. He simply had to come up with some way to get Vanitas to try a paopu fruit.

***

His chance came only a few days later. He was in the middle of a sparring match with Riku when he spotted a small Unversed sneaking around some bushes. “Riku, wait! I saw an Unversed!” Sora called, raising a hand to halt the match.

Riku sighed. “Great.” He turned in the direction Sora indicated, keyblade at the ready, but then frowned back at Sora. “I don’t see anything?”

“It was only one. I don’t think it was here for a fight.”

“…Shall we ignore it, then?” Riku asked.

“I wanna see if I can find Vanitas,” Sora said. “Since Ventus isn’t here, will you be my backup?”

“That’s right, Ventus isn’t here. So why is Vanitas?” Riku wondered.

Sora shrugged. “I’ve run into him a few times when Ventus wasn’t around.” Although he hadn’t stopped to consider it until just now. “I think he sticks around for a few days after a fight?”

“Why, though?” Riku furrowed his brow.

“Let’s ask him?” Sora suggested. “Oh, but wait! I need to grab a paopu before we go track him down.” He took off in the direction of the paopu tree.

Riku ran after him. “What do you need that for?” he asked, shooting Sora a funny look.

Sora stopped at the tree and inspected the available fruit, settling on one and plucking it off. “I wanted to give him one,” he said.

“You want… to share a paopu with Vanitas?” Riku asked him slowly, funny look intensifying as a flush started to overtake his face.

“Yeah?” Sora replied. Riku flushed a little darker and coughed slightly. 

“Um, okay…” he croaked.

The knowledge of what exactly Riku was implying suddenly hit like a freight train. “Oh!” Sora gasped, eyes flying wide open, blush enveloping his face instantly. “No! No no no no! Not like that! Not like that at all!” he choked out. “I’m just giving it to him! To eat himself! We’re not eating this together! No sharing involved!” He waved his arms wildly to accentuate his point, face burning. Although he’d shared one with Kairi and that hadn’t been romantic, had it? Maybe one day he would be able to share a paopu with Vanitas in the same way.

“Oh, okay.” Riku visibly relaxed. “Well, uh, let’s go then,” he said, awkwardly motioning Sora on.

Sora frowned and went, still blushing slightly. They combed the small island in an awkward silence, until they came across Vanitas sitting on a pier. Sora motioned for Riku to hang back before stepping on the pier himself. Vanitas looked up at his approach, but didn’t move or speak. Sora blinked in surprise as he sat down at the end of the pier next to Vanitas. This was a little different. 

“Not going to try attacking me?” Sora asked before he could stop himself.

Vanitas tensed, but still made no other move. “You won’t fight back, will you?”

“No,” Sora answered. 

“Then what’s the point?” Vanitas returned. 

“Hmm,” Sora hummed. “Hey, why are you still here, anyway? Ventus left this world a few days ago.”

“Why shouldn’t I be here?” Vanitas spat. “Am I Ventus’s dog? Am I supposed to follow him everywhere?” 

“No, no! That isn’t what I meant,” Sora hastily reassured. “We just… don’t usually see you unless you’re trying to get at Ventus.”

“Of course you don’t,” Vanitas scoffed. “Why would I want you people to see me?”

“So… What do you do when you aren’t fighting or collecting negative emotions or whatever anyway?” Sora asked. 

“None of your business,” came the immediate reply.

Sora deflated. “Oh. Well, I like to do stuff with my friends, mostly. I like to build things too. Make stuff. And I never really did this before, but since meeting Little Chef, I’ve been trying my hand at cooking lately. I’m, uh, not very good at it yet, but it’s fun! And I managed to make a stir-fry the other day that tasted pretty alright! I only burnt the rice a little,” Sora finished, puffing his chest out in pride. 

Vanitas grunted noncommittally. 

Sora squirmed a bit, not entirely sure what to say next. He desperately searched his mind for any viable conversation thread, and ended up blurting out: “Kairi thinks you use your helmet to hide your emotions, is that true?”

Vanitas went very tense. “Kairi. The Princess of Heart?” he asked.

“Um, yeah.” Sora rubbed the back of his head nervously. Why did he say that?

“I’m not hiding anything. Everyone can see my emotions,” Vanitas said. He sounded almost bitter.

“Oh.” Sora thought about that. “Do you mean the Unversed?”

Vanitas nodded.

Sora frowned and cradled his chin in his hand. The Unversed were… manifestations of negative energy, that came from Vanitas. He knew that. And Vanitas used them to gather more energy. Was the energy that made them Vanitas’s own negative emotions? Did each Unversed represent how he felt?

“Hey, you control the Unversed, right?” Sora asked. Something about this was bothering him, but he wasn’t quite sure what yet.

Vanitas nodded again.

“How much control do you have, exactly?” Sora questioned.

“Sniffing for weaknesses? You’ll have to try harder than that,” Vanitas sneered. 

“No, that isn’t…” Sora sighed in frustration. “I just meant…” What did he mean? “If they’re your emotions, then… it would be hard to control them, right?” he asked slowly, as his thoughts started to slot together. “I mean, negative emotions are pretty hard to control. If someone’s sad or angry or jealous or afraid, then they tend to have less self-control. And those emotions can make people hurt others, or…” Themselves. “Do the Unversed ever turn on you?”

“You don’t know anything,” Vanitas hissed, fists clenched. “Quit poking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

“Er, sorry!” Sora apologized, surreptitiously scooting back a bit.

Vanitas stood and looked down at him. “You could really use a lesson in leaving people alone,” he spat. “I don’t want your company or your friendship.” And then he opened a Corridor of Darkness and left.

Sora stared at the waves for a bit, then let out a frustrated yell and laid back on the pier. It seemed like he was messing something up with every encounter. Sometimes it would seem like Sora was making real progress, getting Vanitas to open up, but then he would say or do something and it would feel like Sora had gone back to square one. 

The pier creaked as Riku walked across it, sitting next to Sora. “You forgot the paopu,” he remarked.

“Agh!” Sora yelled again. “I did!” He pulled the fruit out of his pocket and angrily took a bite. Then he sighed, letting the tension in his body bleed away. “So you were watching, right? What did you think of all that?”

“I’m surprised he didn’t attack you,” Riku told him.

“Yeah, me too,” Sora agreed.

“And he was actually pretty civil. You know, by his standards.”

“You think?” Sora frowned. “I feel like I pissed him off.”

“Oh, definitely,” Riku agreed. “I don’t think he likes talking about himself much. At least, not about anything that might make him appear vulnerable.”

“Huh. Wait, is that it?” Sora asked, sitting up. “He gets offended when I ask him personal stuff about his emotions, because he thinks it makes him weak?”

“Well, you would probably know better than me at this point,” Riku said. “That’s just how it seemed to me.”

“So I should avoid those topics when talking to him…” Sora took another bite of paopu. “Man, but that’s the stuff I’m most curious about.”

Riku chuckled. “Maybe see if you can get him to trust you more, first? That’s pretty standard of most friendships.”

“Yeah, I guess I was being a little inconsiderate,” Sora conceded. He considered the paopu in his hands for a long moment, then held it out to Riku. “Want some?”

Riku choked on air. “You- what- why-” he sputtered.

Sora smacked him on the back a few times. “You okay, Riku?” he sniggered.

“Why… Why are you sharing this with me?” Riku asked when he had recovered, looking at Sora almost warily.

“We’re best friends, aren’t we?” Sora asked. “Of course we’re going to be together forever. And I’ve already shared one with Kairi, so I need to have one with you too. I don’t see why it has to be a romantic thing. We’re all going to be friends forever,” he grinned. 

Riku’s gaze dropped down to the paopu. “Best friends…” He took the fruit from Sora and bit into it. He smiled back at Sora but wouldn’t quite meet his eyes. “Yeah, best friends. Forever.”

***

Next week found Sora in Radiant Garden, playing checkers with Dilan, of all things. It was their fifth match, Sora having lost the previous four and then insisting on a rematch every time. This round wasn’t looking so great either, and he gulped as Dilan jumped two of his pieces at once and made himself a new king.

“You’re going to lose this one too, Sora,” Even remarked from his place on the couch by the checkers table, turning a page of his book.

Sora pouted at him. “The match isn’t over yet!” He moved one of his two remaining pieces forward. “I might still… win…” he trailed off as Dilan double jumped his last two pieces with his new king. “Oh.”

Dilan looked up at him. “Do you concede defeat?”

“No!” Sora insisted, but then deflated as Dilan continued to stare at him impassively. “Okay… maybe I’m not going to win,” he admitted. 

“Why did you stop by anyway, Sora?” Even asked. “Not that you aren’t welcome any time.”

“I came to play checkers, of course!” Sora answered immediately, but that wasn’t true. Why had he come here, again? Moments like these were when he wished Donald and Goofy were still traveling with him.

“You wanted to ask something about Vanitas, didn’t you?” Dilan guessed.

“Oh, yeah!” Sora perked up. “About the Unversed, actually. What do we know about them?”

Even marked his place in his book and set it next to him, then folded his hands in his lap. “Well, we know they come from Vanitas. And they’re manifestations of negative energy, that seek out more negative emotions to absorb in order to strengthen themselves and their master.”

“What I was wondering is, are the Unversed formed from negative energy in general, or negative emotions specifically?” Sora asked.

Even frowned. “Hmm. Is the distinction significant? I think it could easily be either, or both.”

“It is significant,” Sora insisted. “Are the Unversed made of Vanitas’s negative emotions, specifically? Not the ones he’s absorbed into himself, but his own feelings? And could each type of Unversed represent a different emotion?”

“…Ah,” Even replied. “I see what you’re saying. I must admit I’m not completely sure. If I could look at an Unversed…”

“What, like study one in the lab? How would you manage that?”

“Oh, it wouldn’t be that difficult.” Even waved a hand dismissively. “We have facilities here that could contain it. The trickiest part would be capturing one in the first place. I suppose this will call for some field work.”

“Huh? So you’re going to help?” Sora asked.

Even shrugged. “I admit you’ve got me curious. Take me with you when you leave, Sora. From what I hear, you run into Vanitas quite a bit.”

“I’m not sure what you’re planning on doing, but okay!” Sora agreed. He turned back to Dilan, who had started to put the checkers away. “Hey, do you think you could teach me chess? I’ve never understood that game.”

Dilan nodded silently and swapped out the checkers set for a chess set. Sora settled himself more comfortably in his chair. He needed to win at _something_ before he could leave.

***

It took two more weeks for Vanitas to show back up, during which time Even took it upon himself to tutor Sora in chemistry after hearing from Tidus that he’d almost failed it the year before.

“Now, Sora, do you remember what a mole is?” Even asked him. They were sitting on the beach by the Seaside Shack. Sora watched longingly as the rest of his friends laughed and played around them. “Well?” Even pressed.

“Um… no?” Sora scratched his head.

“Okay,” Even sighed. “So, _again_ , a mole is unit of measurement based on the amount of particles found in carbon-12…”

Sora tuned him out. He really wished he could go for a swim. He snuck a glance at a group of people by the beach engaged in a splash fight. It looked like Demyx was winning, but it looked like he was also cheating. 

“…so it’s used pretty frequently in this equation.” Even finished. “Think you got that?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah,” Sora lied. 

“Good! Then, I’d like you to try this exercise.” Even pointed at a question in the chemistry textbook laying between them. 

Sora groaned and leaned over to look at it. But then, to his eternal gratitude, a multitude of Unversed burst from the shadows. “Unversed!” Sora cried in naked relief. He’d have to thank Vanitas for this one. 

Even stood and summoned his shield. “Alright, I’m going to go after one of the little ones. Keep the rest of them off of me,” he instructed Sora.

“Will do!” Sora gave a little salute and summoned his keyblade. 

Even strode purposefully towards a Flood on the outskirts of the group, Sora batting away other Unversed as they went. Upon reaching the Flood, a group of Dusks slithered in from seemingly nowhere.

“Nobodies?” Sora squawked. 

“It’s okay,” Even told him. “They’re mine.”

The Dusks surrounded the Flood. One of them wriggled its body into a rope-like shape and wrapped itself around the Flood, which began to struggle violently. It tried to sink into the ground, but Even quickly cast a Watera and it was forced back out into the Dusk’s grip. The other Dusks joined the struggle until the Flood was wrapped up so tightly it could barely move. 

“There,” Even declared. “That should hold for now. But I’ll need to get it back to the lab quickly. I assume you’re going to go after Vanitas?”

“Oh, yeah, I guess I should,” Sora answered. But he stopped to crouch down and look at the Flood. It was twitching slightly, and its red eyes appeared to be fixed on him, although it was hard to tell. “Sorry, little guy,” Sora told it. “Hey, try not to hurt it, okay?” Sora turned to Even. “I’m pretty sure whatever you do to these guys goes back to Vanitas. Maybe.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Even promised.

Sora nodded and left him to it. The rest of the Unversed had been defeated, and Ventus was waiting for him. “Ready?” he asked Sora.

“Yeah, let’s go.” They started walking.

“So you’re trying to figure out what emotions each Unversed represents, right?” Ventus asked him as they walked.

“Yeah,” Sora replied. “And whether they’re even Vanitas’s emotions in the first place.”

“Oh, they are,” Ventus said. “He’s told me that before. They come from him, specifically.”

“Oh.” Sora frowned. “Why didn’t I think to ask you?”

Ventus laughed. “It’s okay. Although I guess I should let Even know too. I’m really curious to see if they’ll match up to specific feelings, though, even if I’m not quite sure how that helps you.”

“I guess it’s just more curiosity,” Sora admitted. “But it might also help me. It’s hard to tell what he’s thinking, sometimes, but maybe the Unversed could give me some sort of clue?”

They slowed to a stop as they spotted Vanitas ahead of them, sitting in a tree. He didn’t move on their approach. 

“Hey, Vanitas?” Ventus called.

“What?” came the irate reply.

Sora walked to the base of the tree and craned his head up. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“Fine. Quit bothering me,” Vanitas snapped.

“ _You_ bothered _us_ ,” Ventus huffed. “If you want to be left alone, quit siccing your Unversed on us.”

“Oh, yeah, thanks for that, by the way!” Sora smiled at him. “You saved me from a chemistry lecture. I _hate_ chemistry.” 

“I wasn’t trying to help you.”

“Thanks anyway!” Sora insisted.

“Seriously, are you alright?” Ventus joined Sora beneath the tree. 

“I’d be better if you’d stop talking to me,” Vanitas replied.

Sora glanced at the tree trunk appraisingly. It was pretty smooth, with no low-hanging branches. He’d have to jump. “Alright, I’m coming up,” he told Vanitas.

“What? No, don’t do that-”

Sora ignored him, backing up a few feet and then jumping, reaching out to snag himself on a branch before he could fall. He quickly pulled himself up so he was crouching on a branch a few feet from Vanitas.

Vanitas had scooted back closer to the trunk and appeared to be contemplating jumping down. Ventus stared up at him from the base of the tree. Vanitas didn’t move. 

“I brought something for you!” Sora chirped.

“I don’t want it,” Vanitas replied automatically. 

Sora pulled it out anyway. “Ta-da! A paopu fruit! You’ve gotta try it! These things are delicious!” 

“I don’t want it,” Vanitas repeated and shook his head, the sunlight shining through the tree’s leaves casting strange patterns on his helmet.

“Please try it?” Sora begged. “I promise it’s really good!”

Vanitas pressed himself closer to the tree trunk. “No.”

“Please?” Sora tried again.

Vanitas shook his head more violently. “Leave me alone.”

Sora sighed. “Fine. Is there something else you’d be willing to try instead?”

“Would you be willing to try leaving me alone?” Vanitas retorted. 

“Probably not,” Sora admitted. “I’m kind of really invested in this now.”

“ _Why?_ ” Vanitas asked.

“I want to be your friend.” Sora smiled at him. “I don’t think you’re as bad as everyone says.”

Vanitas scoffed. “I am. You don’t know me.”

“No, but I’d like to!” 

“What do you gain from this?” Vanitas sounded genuinely confused.

“A friend, hopefully!” Sora answered cheerfully. “Isn’t that good enough?”

“…I wouldn’t know,” Vanitas replied.

“You could find out,” Sora said. He tried to sound encouraging. 

Vanitas looked away. “Please just leave me alone.”

Sora blinked, mouth forming a small “o” in surprise. He hadn’t known “please” was in Vanitas’s vocabulary. “…I don’t really want to do that,” he said after a moment. “But I can leave for today, if you want.”

Vanitas gave a slight nod. 

“…Okay.” Sora jumped down to the ground below. “I’ll see you later,” he called up.

Ventus was staring between the two of them. “Are we leaving?” he asked Sora.

Sora shrugged. “I guess.”

“Okay…” Ventus kept staring at him as they walked away. Once they were out of earshot, he asked, “What _was_ that?”

Sora shrugged again. “I guess he just doesn’t want to talk today. Maybe he’ll be feeling better next time.”

“That was… almost a civil conversation. When did that start happening?”

“I dunno. I guess the last time I saw him? He was less creepy and rude then, too.”

Ventus shook his head. “I know I’ve been encouraging you to do this and everything, but it’s still really weird to see it actually kind of _work_. I can’t even imagine you two actually becoming friends. I’m pretty sure he’s allergic to friendship.”

“Well, hopefully you won’t have to imagine it! You’ll just see it instead.” Sora folded his arms behind his head. 

Ventus shook his head again. “Yeah, maybe I actually will. What a day that’ll be, huh?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Riku honey im so sorry_
> 
> it occurred to me that these kids should probably like be in school?? but i don't really want to relive high school for this fic that i write for fun so im... not gonna write that. maybe they're on break or something idk
> 
> ive thought maybe they should have parents too but their parents are barely (read: not at all) relevant in the games so theyre not going to be relevant here either


	4. In Which Sora Falls to Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is a lil different. also barely edited oops sorry for any mistakes

“…So I ended up just leaving, but was that really the right thing to do? I’m starting to doubt myself now. I mean, what if I never see him again after this, or something else-”

“Ew, Sora, did you like my selfie?” Larxene interrupted, looking up from her Gummiphone. 

“Huh? Yeah, it’s a nice picture,” Sora answered. “Why is that ew?”

“It’s weird!” Larxene complained. “I didn’t post that for you. Don’t just go liking my selfies, brat!”

“Then don’t post it publicly!” 

“Sora has a point,” Luxord agreed. 

“Shut up, gambling addict, no one asked you!” Larxene snapped.

“I’m sure Sora didn’t mean anything by it,” Marluxia stated mildly, taking a sip of his coffee and placing it carefully back on the table. “Now, Sora, you were saying?”

“Uh, I think I had mostly finished saying it,” Sora said, taking a long drink from his bubble tea. He took a quick glance around the café. No one was paying their table any attention, everyone either engrossed in their own conversations or staring at some sort of screen in front of them. He liked this café because it was so spacious, with comfy plush seating strewn artfully about the tables and providing more than enough room for all its customers. It was the perfect place to go to discuss secret, private things in public. 

“I see. And were you seeking our advice, or did you simply need an audience to complain to?” Luxord inquired, fiddling with a deck of cards.

“Advice?” Sora shrugged. 

“Then, I believe you did the right thing, Sora,” Marluxia said. “It’s good to give people space when they want it. Respecting someone’s feelings is essential to any good friendship.”

Sora nodded and leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. It’s just so hard to tell with this guy. Half the time it feels like I’m messing up.”

“I do hear he is rather unstable,” Luxord commented. “Are you sure it’s wise to seek his friendship?”

“Oh, please,” Larxene scoffed. “He’s sitting here talking to us, isn’t he? Not that _I’m_ your friend.” She glared at Sora, who stuck out his tongue in retaliation.

“Speak for yourself,” Marluxia said. “I’m perfectly well-adjusted.”

Larxene snorted, then burst into ugly cackles. 

“Vanitas’s suitability as a friend aside,” Luxord smoothly interjected over her, “there is something I’ve been wondering about.”

“Yeah? What’s that?” Sora drained the last of his bubble tea and continued to obnoxiously slurp air through his straw for several seconds. 

“Why the obsession? Vanitas is all you talk about these days, or so I hear.” He began to shuffle the deck.

“I’m not obsessed!” Sora protested automatically. “I talk about other things!”

“Well, you haven’t so far,” Larxene pointed out, laughter petering out. “And we’ve been here for how long now?”

“Around two hours, I believe,” Marluxia answered. 

“That’s just because I saw him recently, so he’s been on my mind lately! That’s it! A few more days and I’ll be talking about other things!” Sora squeaked as he felt his cheeks begin to heat up. Had it really been that long?

“Uh-huh.” Larxene rolled her eyes. “Luxord, fifty munny says this guy’s still talking about Vanitas in a few days.”

“I believe I would lose that bet, so I’ll have to pass,” Luxord answered. “Marluxia, I saw you watching. Is this your card?” He produced a card from his deck with a flourish. 

Marluxia nodded and raised his eyebrows. “Impressive.” 

“I’m not obsessed,” Sora insisted, frowning. 

“That’s a suspicious amount of denial, I must say,” Luxord commented.

“I’m not!” Sora insisted, more loudly this time. Why did they think he was obsessed? He wasn’t! He was putting the usual amount of time and effort into The Plan! It’s the same he would do for anyone who needed help! Vanitas had nothing to do with it, really. 

“Aaaand he denies it again!” Larxene exclaimed. “Keep going kid, maybe it’ll actually be true next time!” 

“There’s no need to be rude,” Marluxia admonished. “Although I am curious as well, Sora. Perhaps obsession isn’t the right word, but you are obviously putting a lot into this Plan of yours. Why is that?”

“It’s the same I’d do for anyone,” Sora said. “Vanitas is hurting, and I want to help him. But he’s making it difficult, so I’m having to do a lot to try and reach him. That’s all.”

“I see,” Marluxia nodded. “This does seem consistent with your character. But what I’m wondering is, why exactly are you going so far out of your way? You never tried so hard to redeem any of us.” He swept a hand over the table to indicate Luxord and Larxene.

“A good point,” Luxord agreed. “You were always willing to fight us, for one. And I could be wrong, but I don’t believe you ever talked about us so much with your friends. Sora, think of a card.”

“Um, okay.” Sora pictured the ace of hearts. “I… didn’t talk so much about you guys,” he admitted, his brow furrowing. “Or try so hard to reach you. But you guys weren’t in the same kind of pain that he is. And besides, I had a lot more going on back then.”

“Ah, now we get to it,” Marluxia said, taking a sip of coffee. “Your obsession stems from boredom.”

“It does not! Where did you even come up with that?” Sora protested. 

“Come now, Sora, it doesn’t take a genius to see how stir-crazy you get on these islands. Is this your card?” Luxord drew the ace of hearts from his deck.

“Wow, yeah! How’d you do that?” Sora exclaimed, leaning forward to scrutinize the card as if it might have fine print explaining magic.

“He probably cheated,” Larxene scoffed, tapping away on her Gummiphone. 

“You’re bored and restless and clinging to Vanitas because he gives your life excitement,” Marluxia guessed. “Am I close?”

Sora pouted and sucked more air through his straw. But the others continued to stare at him, so finally he burst out, “Fine! Maybe I am bored.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Luxord said. “Everyone gets bored. Although I don’t typically turn to befriending creatures of darkness out of boredom.”

“He’s a person, not a creature,” Sora snapped. “And I told you guys there’s more to it than that.”

“Yeah, yeah, but it basically boils down to you just needing something to do, doesn’t it?” Larxene asked, waving her arm dismissively. 

“Let’s give Sora some credit,” Marluxia suggested. “Helping people is clearly important to him. I believe his personal dissatisfaction is merely exacerbating something he would be doing anyway.”

“That’s right!” Sora hastily agreed. “It’s not like, my main motivator!” 

“So then,” Luxord started. “We’ve established a contributing factor to your pursuing The Plan is your boredom. Can I ask why you are bored?”

Sora groaned. “Why are you guys so interested in this anyway? If I wanted a therapist, I’d go to one.”

“Sounds like someone’s avoiding the question,” Larxene sang, eyes still fixed on her Gummiphone.

Sora groaned louder. “I just… I just don’t know what to do with myself anymore!” he said in a rush, exhaling hard. “I spent what feels like my whole adolescence chasing after Riku, or saving the worlds, or trying to stop the Organization, or trying to stop Xehanort. I was always on the move, almost always with friends, and always looking towards some distant threat or goal. And now it’s just all over!” He threw his hands up in the air. “What do I do now? How can I just go back to being a normal Destiny Islands kid after seeing all those worlds and meeting all those people and fighting all those monsters? I don’t know anything about the latest trends or the school gossip! And school is even more torturous than before! I didn’t need to know trigonometry to save all the worlds from darkness, so what good could it possibly do me now? Of course I’m going to take any chance I can get to actually do something worthwhile!” Sora glared down at the polished wood of the table, breathing fast. 

His companions were silent. 

Finally, Luxord slowly resumed shuffling his deck. “Maybe you _do_ need a therapist,” he suggested.

Marluxia took another sip of his drink. “This sounds like something you should be telling your friends, Sora.”

Sora scowled. “You guys _are_ my friends.”

“I appreciate that. But you know what I mean,” Marluxia said. “Riku and Kairi could help you far better than us. And if you’re having problems, they’ll want to help you.”

“I don’t need help,” Sora muttered. “And I don’t want to worry them over nothing. It’s not like anything’s really wrong. It’s just taking me a bit longer to adjust. I’ll be fine.”

Marluxia sighed and shook his head. “Sora, your feelings aren’t nothing. Not to your best friends.”

“I’m fine,” Sora insisted, more firmly. “I’ve been doing better.”

“Because of Vanitas?” Luxord asked.

“Right,” Sora nodded, eyes fixed somewhere in the middle distance. “Because of Vanitas.”

***

Sora spent the rest of the day, and then all of the next, in an angry haze. He was _fine_. He was managing _fine_. Yes, he got bored at the Islands, but that was why he took weekend trips to other worlds or invited the rest of the Keyblade Organization over to hang out. He was constantly hanging out with different people and trying to pick up new hobbies because it was _interesting_ and _fun_ , not because he was desperately trying to keep himself occupied. And boredom was hardly the type of emotion that would warrant professional help, anyway! Complaining to his friends about it would just be silly.

“You okay, Sora? You’ve been glaring at your textbook this whole time. Have you even done any questions?” Riku asked, laying his torso across the table so he was right in Sora’s face.

“I’m fine,” Sora said. He was in the middle of his weekly study session with Riku and Kairi at his house, but he hadn’t managed to do any studying yet. He was still ruminating on his conversation in the café, trying to think of what he should’ve said to get them to understand there was nothing wrong with him. He gritted his teeth as he remembered the way Marluxia had looked at him as he told him to talk to his friends. As if he was someone to be pitied. 

“Seriously, Sora.” Riku was frowning deeply and looking into his eyes. “Are you alright?”

“You seem like you’re upset about something,” Kairi said, scooting her chair closer and laying a hand on Sora’s shoulder. “What’s wrong? Talk to us.”

“I’m fine,” Sora repeated, flashing a quick smile at Kairi. Her frown only deepened. 

“Okay, something’s wrong,” she insisted. 

“It’s nothing, really,” Sora sighed. “It’s stupid.”

“I think we can be the judge of that,” Riku proclaimed. He poked Sora in the ribs. “Spill.”

“It’s just…” Sora bit his lip as he considered. Was it really worth telling his friends? He glanced at each of them in turn. Kairi was still gripping his shoulder, her eyes wide with concern, mouth forming a slight smile that was both worried and encouraging. Riku was frowning at him, his arms folded across his chest, his eyebrows drawn together, eyes staring deep into Sora’s. Sora’s gaze dropped back to the textbook on the table. It was stupid. He was worrying them for nothing. He didn’t want his friends to have to worry about anything; they’d been through too much. They all deserved to live happy, worry-free lives where everything was beautiful and perfect, and Sora _was not going to ruin that for them_. “It’s Keyblade Volleyball!” he exclaimed suddenly, voice just a bit too loud. Kairi jumped slightly, startled.

“You’re worrying over… Keyblade Volleyball?” Riku asked, frown deepening. 

“Yeah,” Sora sighed. “The first test run was a disaster. I’ve been trying to iron out the rules so it’s a playable game, but… everything’s so jumbled up in my mind and I’ve never been that great at volleyball anyway.”

“Well, no need to get so upset about it,” Kairi smiled, brushing hair out of her face. “We’ll help you.”

“Really?” Sora grinned, ignoring the hot coil of shame that tightened around his stomach. “That’d be great!” 

“I’m not sure how much we could help, though?” Riku mused. “It’s not like any of us are particularly knowledgeable when it comes to volleyball.”

“What do you mean?” Sora asked. “You’re great at volleyball, Riku.”

“Yeah!” Kairi said. “You’ve always been the best out of us.”

Riku rubbed the back of his head. “Well, sure, I know how to score points, but it when it comes to official rules and things…”

“Wait, you always said you were a master at volleyball,” Kairi said, frowning. “That you knew the game inside and out.”

“I… may have been exaggerating? I may not actually know like, half of the rules?” Riku grinned sheepishly.

“Rikuuuuuuuu! I can’t believe you!” Sora exclaimed. “I was young and naïve! I really thought you were some volleyball god! And you’ve been faking this whole time?” He tackled Riku to the floor, tickling his sides mercilessly. 

“Hey, I wasn’t faking all of it!” Riku protested in between bouts of laughter, squirming wildly. “I really did- would you stop that? I really did score all those points! That wasn’t faking!”

“Uh-huh, _sure_ it wasn’t!” Kairi stood and pointed a finger at Riku, other hand on her hip. “If you don’t know the rules, how do you know all those points were legal?”

“Um…” Riku explained.

“Exactly!” Kairi threw herself to the floor and joined the attack against Riku. 

Several minutes later, when they had all exhausted themselves and were laying on the floor in panting heap of loose limbs and goofy smiles, Kairi asked, “So, if none of us know anything about volleyball, how are we supposed to make a game based on volleyball?”

“Research?” Riku suggested.

“How?” Sora asked. “I can’t read books about sports, I’ll die of boredom.”

Riku rolled his eyes and propped himself up on his elbow. “Like any of us would ever actually read sports manuals. I was thinking we could like, watch videos or something.”

“Or we could talk to people who actually do understand volleyball,” Kairi said, sitting up. “Tidus refs our games for us all the time, I bet he could help. Wakka, too.”

“Yeah, those are good ideas!” Sora cheered. “Maybe we could actually get the game to be playable.”

“But before we get into all that, we can at least set some baseline rules,” Riku said. “So, first things first – is magic allowed or not?”

Sora laughed. “You’re still on about that? Fine, I’m thinking no magic. What about you, Kairi?”

“No magic,” Kairi agreed. “Weapons only. I feel magic is too versatile and hard to regulate.” 

Sora shook his head, smiling. “Aqua will be so upset. Actually, Donald will probably hate that too.”

“HA!” Riku exclaimed, sitting up and punching a fist in the air. “No magic! I win!”

“But speaking of weapons, what about those?” Kairi asked. “Wasn’t Luxord having trouble with his cards, last time?”

Sora scowled. “Maybe he should get a more practical weapon, then,” he huffed.

Riku raised his eyebrows and gazed at Sora searchingly. “Come on, don’t be that way. We’ve got to be equal opportunity here. Weird men with gambling addictions can play volleyball with us if they want to.”

Kairi nodded. “We’ll need to think about Marluxia’s reach, too. That scythe is huge. And Naminé! She doesn’t even have a weapon. She can’t just smack the ball with her sketchbook.”

“I feel like Demyx’s sitar is going to be complicated, too,” Riku added. “And are the guys at Radiant Garden going to be playing? Because Ienzo’s just got a book.”

“Ugh,” Sora complained. “Why do all the Organization guys have to have such weird weapons? Can’t they just get keyblades like the rest of us?”

“Well, Lea managed it,” Kairi said, putting her chin in her hand thoughtfully. “So maybe the rest of them could too?” She wrinkled her nose. “Do we really want them all to be keyblade wielders, though? Can you imagine trying to train with Larxene?”

“Okay, maybe not,” Sora agreed. “But they could at least get something sensible, like a gunblade.”

“Gunblades are NOT sensible, Sora,” Riku told him, masking his laugh in a cough. “I don’t care how cool Leon looks using his.”

“What do you mean it’s not sensible?” Sora pouted. “Have you seen him take out a horde of Heartless with that thing?”

“Admittedly, no. But come on. Attaching a sword to a gun just throws the aim off,” Riku said.

“Sounds like you just need to see Leon take down a horde of Heartless,” Sora said.

“Guys, can we get back on track?” Kairi asked. “We can’t give the Organization gunblades. Where do you even get those?”

Sora scratched his head. “I dunno. I get the feeling I might know someone who does, though? But I can’t really remember.”

Riku poked his side. “Is that more of your heart memory nonsense? It kinda sounds like it.”

“You think? You think Roxas or Ventus might know someone who could get us a gunblade? Or… Vanitas or Xion? Do I have their memories? No one ever really gave me a straight answer on that.” Sora frowned as he pulled out his Gummiphone. He texted Roxas and Ventus: 

_hey u guys know where i can get a gunblade askin for a friend_

“It would make sense for you to have those memories, too, wouldn’t it?” Kairi asked. “They were in your heart.”

Sora’s Gummiphone pinged with a notification. He opened a message from Roxas: 

_yeah but dont talk to him hes not worth it_

“It’s Roxas,” Sora told his friends. “He does know something.” He sent a reply: 

_??? tell me_

It took longer for Roxas to respond to that. Finally Sora got another ping, and opened up: 

_talk to seifer :/ but i warned u_

“Huh? Seifer can get us gunblades?” Sora asked, tilting his head quizzically. 

“That doesn’t sound right,” Riku commented. 

“I guess there’s no harm in trying?” Sora shrugged. 

“Why do you still have Roxas’s memories if he’s no longer inside you?” Kairi questioned. 

Sora shrugged again. “No idea. Ienzo might know.”

“So… bottom line,” Riku stated. “We’re giving everyone who used to be in the Organization, minus Lea, Roxas, and Xion, gunblades, so they can play Keyblade Volleyball?”

“Gunblade Volleyball,” Kairi said. “Why bother with keyblades, at this point? Gunblade Volleyball.”

“What is happening?” Riku cried.

They all looked at each other, then burst into laughter. Holding his stomach and wheezing for breath, Sora almost forgot all about the worlds outside the window.

***

That weekend Sora went to the Keyblade Graveyard.

He had snuck off from the others, only texting Roxas to let him know where he was and to please keep it from anyone else if they asked. He wanted to pay his respects and he wanted to be alone, and he knew no one would let him be that here. There were too many bad memories. Even if it was safe and Xehanort-free now, the others would insist on accompanying him. 

He stepped out of the Gummi ship slowly, head swiveling around to scan the cliffs. No sign of life. Just thousands of thousands of keyblades, rusted and corroded, standing upright in the desert like tombstones. Sora took a deep breath and began to walk, his eyes continuously roving over the cliffs as he went. 

He stopped at a clearing, bracing his hand against one of the keyblades. It felt thin and brittle under his hand, the metal pocked with rust and nearly eaten through. He closed his eyes and concentrated, focusing on the keyblade, trying to connect with it. He opened his eyes as he felt a rush a warmth, and looked to see the hilt of the keyblade crawling with shadows. This one had belonged to a warrior of darkness. Sora closed his eyes again.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “Rest in peace, whoever you were.”

He moved on. The labyrinth was farther than he remembered, but maybe the space only seemed larger because it was no longer teeming with Heartless. When he finally reached the labyrinth’s entrance, he stopped again, resting against another keyblade. This one responded instantly to his touch, emitting a faint light. Sora smiled at it.

“You helped me fight the darkness before,” he said. “Thank you. It’s over now. Rest in peace.”

The light slowly faded. Sora entered the labyrinth. Then stopped.

He could feel… something. Something bad. Nausea crawled up his throat as he shuddered. He summoned his own keyblade and ventured forth cautiously, trying to walk silently as he slunk around the corners of the labyrinth. After a few twists and turns, he began to hear the sounds of combat. He sped up his pace. 

Sora’s quick walk ground to a halt as he rounded a corner and saw what was happening in one of the labyrinth’s open spaces. Vanitas was fighting a large group of Unversed, but for every one he cut down two more seemed to take its place. Sora stared in horrified fascination as Vanitas ran through a Scrapper, shuddered violently, and then had two more Scrappers burst out of his shadow. 

Sora took a step forward, then stopped. If attacking the Unversed hurt Vanitas, how could he possibly help? Wouldn’t he only make this worse? He tightened his grip on his keyblade and gritted his teeth. Was there nothing he could do?

The Unversed decided his course of action for him when one of them noticed him, abandoning its attack on Vanitas to lunge at him instead. Sora quickly brought up his keyblade for a parry, then counterattacked and finished it off with a burst of Firaga. 

Vanitas had noticed him. Turning his back on the Unversed, he dove at Sora, the point of his keyblade fixed on Sora’s heart. His helmet had partially cracked open, revealing a single golden eye. He was crying, Sora realized, distantly, as he rolled to the side. A group of Unversed to his left pressed forward, and Sora tossed two Thundagas their way, ignoring the burn as his MP depleted rapidly. 

“Fight me, coward!” Vanitas yelled, swinging his keyblade back and forth. 

“I don’t want to!” Sora yelled back, jumping as a Flood surfaced beneath him. He thrust his full weight down through the point of his keyblade, running the Flood straight through. 

“FIGHT ME!” Vanitas screamed. “You’re already hurting me!”

Sora stepped back, his grip on his keyblade slackening. “I…” He shouldn’t have gotten involved. There was no heroic course of action, here. No matter what he did he was going to mess something up.

Vanitas suddenly disappeared, and Sora stared incomprehensibly at the spot he had occupied just moments before. Then he felt a slight breeze at his back and his body automatically began contorting in a turn, but he was too slow. Vanitas swung his keyblade at Sora’s unprotected back, hard, and Sora went flying and skidded along the ground for several feet, his keyblade falling out of his hand.

Sora groaned as he struggled to regain his bearings, slowly pushing himself up onto his knees and then his feet. His back pulsed with pain, and Sora found himself unable to stand up straight, re-summoning his keyblade and using it to support his weight while he doubled over. 

Vanitas didn’t give him any more time than that. A ball of dark fire flew towards him, and Sora rolled to the side, trying not to cry out as his back slammed against the ground. Vanitas lunged for him again, and Sora quickly parried, but the force of the blow left his hand numb and unable to counterattack. He took another blow, this time to his right side, and he staggered back on unsteady feet.

He wasn’t going to win, and he didn’t have any backup. Vanitas, the boy he had tried so hard to befriend, was going to kill him, and he would become just another lonely keyblade trapped on a forgotten world.

“Weak!” Vanitas hissed. His yellow eye was wet and furious and merciless. “You call this a fight?” 

Sora fell down under the force of another blow too quick to dodge. What a joke. This was the power that had stopped Xehanort? He really was useless without his friends, no matter what Riku might say otherwise. The pain was beginning to overtake his senses, clouding his vision and roaring in his ears. 

“ _Fight me_ , you pathetic worm.” Vanitas’s words seemed to be coming from miles away. 

Sora stumbled forward. Pathetic. Suddenly, he felt angry. This was pathetic. He could do better than this. He saved the worlds from darkness. He defeated Xehanort. And he couldn’t handle one scared, angry boy? He didn’t need help. He didn’t need _anyone’s_ help. Sora was _fine_ , and he could do this _himself_. 

He looked down and noticed the darkness spreading out from around him, rippling faintly along the ground. And without a second thought, he closed his eyes and sank into it, emerging a few seconds later, opening bright glowing eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for someone who relies on the power of friendship so much, sora sure does have an awful tendency to bottle things up!!! haha i wasnt projecting with this chapter at all!!!!!


	5. In Which Vanitas Meets Selphie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i keep feeling like this fic is contradicting canon in some very big ways but then i remember that kh contradicts its own canon constantly and in very big ways and i stop caring. so great to just write whatever i want thanks so much for making a completely nonsensical plot nomura

“…normal? Sora? Can you hear me?”

Someone was talking. The words were blurred and fuzzy around the edges, bumping gently against his eardrums as if rocked there by waves. Who was it?

“Sora?”

He was surrounded by a great, cold blackness. He tried to open his eyes and found that they were already open. He couldn’t see. His body was heavy and cold, like he had gone ice skating in Arendelle and fallen through into the water. Twitching his leg, he found he couldn’t move it above the knee. Pain coursed through his entire body at regular intervals. It hurt to breathe. 

He groaned, a hoarse sound that scraped out of his throat and crackled in the air. Slowly, he closed his eyes, their dryness burning his eyelids. Water gathering rapidly, he opened them, blinking carefully as light entered his vision, then color. He blinked more rapidly, trying to clear the film of water, and the world slowly coalesced into coherent shapes. 

He was lying on his back in the labyrinth of the Keyblade Graveyard, a sharp stone digging painfully into his left shoulder. The sky was clear and blue above him. Neck muscles screaming in protest, Sora lifted his head and found himself staring at Vanitas. 

Vanitas was straddling his legs, resting his full weight on Sora’s knees and leaning forward to crush his elbows into the ground, effectively pinning him in place. His helmet had been almost completely shattered, revealing all of his face. His eyes were tinged with red, dried tear tracks running down his cheeks. His nose was red, swollen, and slightly crooked, as if it had been recently broken and then reset. Dried, flakey blood coated the lower half of his face. He blinked very slowly, like keeping his eyes open was a struggle.

“You’re back,” Vanitas stated. 

Sora dropped his head back with a thud and groaned again.

Vanitas shifted off him, arranging himself on the ground to Sora’s side. Sora flexed his hands and drew his knees up.

“What happened?” he croaked.

“I won, obviously.” Vanitas was staring at him, naked curiosity in his eyes. “But what did you _do_?” 

“What did I…?” What had Sora done? He pushed through the fog enveloping his mind, trying to remember. He had come here to pay respects… he had found Vanitas… Vanitas had attacked… Sora had… Sora had felt so… “I did it again,” Sora realized. “Are you okay?”

Vanitas sneered. The blood around his mouth made him seem almost feral. “I’m fine. Tell me what you did.”

“It’s,” Sora’s voice cracked, and he took a steadying breath. “Did I have my keyblade?”

Vanitas nodded.

“Then it’s- Donald calls it Rage Form,” he mumbled. 

“Rage Form,” Vanitas echoed.

Sora stared blankly somewhere over Vanitas’s shoulder. “It’s darkness,” he whispered. “Me giving in to darkness.”

“Yeah, I gathered that,” Vanitas stated dryly. “You’re fine now, though.”

“Goofy thinks it’s because of- something that happened to me in the past. And that’s why I can use Rage Form sometimes,” Sora said. He didn’t want to talk about it, but if he had tried to hurt Vanitas, then he owed him at least a partial explanation. 

“In the past?” Vanitas tilted his head slightly, pursing his lips together. His eyes narrowed as he seemed to mull that over. 

“Yeah. So, I can do that sometimes, when I’m angry enough. But it only lasts a little while,” Sora said. 

“You were feeling much more than just anger. Rage Form isn’t the most accurate descriptor,” Vanitas told him. “All very negative emotions, though.”

“Oh. I’m… not very aware of myself, like that. I’m sorry,” Sora confessed.

“Is that why you’re so upset now?” Vanitas asked. “You don’t like losing control.”

“Not exactly,” Sora admitted. The truth was he was afraid that he was capable of such violence. The darkness in his heart terrified him, and he did his best to keep it under lock and key. But it always bubbled to the surface eventually, and for all his light he was powerless to stop it. “I don’t like that I might seriously hurt someone,” he said. 

“You shouldn’t be so upset,” Vanitas remarked. “It’s a tremendous power, and you used it well. Only an idiot would reject that kind of strength.”

Sora wanted to be an idiot, then. “I don’t want it if it costs me the people I care about. Or myself.”

Vanitas studied him, humming thoughtfully. Whatever he saw in Sora’s eyes, he seemed to like it, for he smiled slightly. “This incident in your past,” he started. “Is this when you became a Heartless?”

Sora’s eyes widened, and he took a minute to struggle into a sitting position. After some effort he managed to push himself upright, resting his head and arms on his knees, which were drawn close to his chest. “You know about that?”

“Of course I do. It’s the first time I became really aware of myself, again,” Vanitas said. “I had slumbered in your heart for years, and suddenly it was no longer a safe haven. The light left.”

“I never considered that.” Sora felt the blood drain from his face. “Then, Roxas and Ventus…”

Vanitas snorted. “Roxas was fine. He got to go gallivanting off in your body, remember? Ventus… Actually, I think he might have gone with Roxas too. It could explain why they look the same, anyway.”

“Oh. So… they would’ve been fine?”

“Most likely.” Vanitas shrugged. “ _I_ stayed with you, though. I’m already darkness, so it wasn’t as if you could corrupt me.”

“You didn’t go with Ventus?” Sora asked.

“No, I enjoyed the new power while it lasted. Of course, then you had to go and regain your light,” he sneered. “And most of that nice new darkness left. But some of it stayed. And that’s what you use for this Rage Form, huh?”

“Yeah. I guess.” Sora fixed his gaze on a cylindrical stone lying in the dust nearby. 

“Well, I don’t see what the problem is,” Vanitas stated flatly. “Obviously it doesn’t last forever, so you’re not going to lose your mind. It’s just a temporary power-up. Why not use it whenever you can?”

“It’s complicated, I guess,” Sora said.

“You’re ashamed of it?” Vanitas pressed. “You’re too good to be using darkness?”

At the hard look in Vanitas’s eyes, Sora swallowed back the _yes_ on the tip of his tongue. Right. Vanitas saw himself as darkness. Insulting it would be insulting him. He thought about the words in his head, rearranged them carefully until they arrived at a safer truth. “I’m afraid my friends will be ashamed of me. Which is ridiculous, I know,” Sora let out a shaky laugh. “Riku would probably understand more than anyone. But I’m a warrior of the light. I’m supposed to be good. Everyone always jokes about how good and pure I am, like I’m some princess of heart. And what I can do is- terrifying. Completely at odds with what everyone expects of me. I don’t want them to see that part of me, to show them that I’m not what they think.” He wasn’t sure about Donald and Goofy. He knew they still had his back in a fight, no matter what, and he knew they had never told anyone else about Anti or Rage Form. But he always felt they didn’t really like that he could do that. It was a topic they avoided, and Sora was usually grateful for it. 

“Then your friends are holding you back, and you should cast them aside. Such attachments are only ever a burden, anyway,” Vanitas replied.

Sora nodded distractedly. He couldn’t say he was surprised Vanitas felt that way. How did Sora feel about it? He tried to suppress his knee-jerk protestations and really think about it. Bonds with friends were the source of his strength. He made connections with people wherever he went, and he became a better person for it. He couldn’t imagine a life without his best friends, and he liked being able to help people and be helped in turn. It made the world seem like a safer, happier place, one worth living in and fighting for. 

And now he was sitting in the middle of a graveyard with a boy who had moments before tried to kill him, his body aching all over, his head throbbing as if stuffed with broken glass, because he had been trying to avoid his friends. So that he wouldn’t worry them. So that he could resolve his issues alone, without support, in order to allow his friends to live a better life than the one he was living currently. 

“I think you’re right, sometimes,” he finally said. “It can be a burden. Sometimes I do really stupid things, because I have friends and I want to keep them. But the good times have always outweighed the bad. For every downside to having a friend, there are three different upsides.”

Vanitas’s eyes widened at Sora’s admission. “Like what?” he asked.

“Like… Maybe I’m afraid to use some of the power I have because of my friends. But my friends will shield me, heal me, and fight by me, so I never _have_ to use all of my power,” Sora furrowed his brow, struggling to reach the right words. “And then when the fight is over, they’ll help me up and take me home. When the next fight comes, they’ll help me again, and I’ll have a reason to fight beyond my own survival.”

Vanitas scoffed. “Your friends weren’t here to help with this fight.”

“No, that was my fault,” Sora admitted. “I didn’t tell them I was coming here. I just wanted to pay my respects. I wasn’t expecting a fight.”

Vanitas considered him, his face impassive. “You’re not as self-righteous as Ventus,” he said after a moment. 

Sora laughed, surprised. “Really? I’ll tell him you said that.”

Vanitas nodded. “He’d have started yelling at me much earlier in this conversation. And of course, he would never turn to the darkness for anything. He’s much too good for that.” He sneered. 

Sora wasn’t sure if the comparison to Ventus was necessarily a good thing or not. His emotions still felt all tangled up, and this didn’t seem quite the time, place, or company to begin unraveling them. Sora mentally reached for his MP and was relieved to find it restored. He cast a Curaga on himself and staggered to his feet. “I’m getting off this world.” He extended a hand down to Vanitas. “You should come with me.”

Vanitas glanced at the hand with suspicion. “What? Why?” 

_Because I think we’re having a moment and I don’t quite want it to end yet_ , Sora didn’t say. Instead he said, “This is a terrible place to hang out! We can at least go talk somewhere nicer.”

“Maybe I’m done talking to you,” Vanitas said, petulantly. 

Sora pouted. “Fine. At least come see the Gummi ship.”

“The what?”

“The Gummi ship! It’s really cool. Come see it.” He wiggled his fingers at Vanitas. 

Vanitas stared at his hand like it was an alien come down to abduct him. He pushed himself to his feet slowly, giving the hand a wide berth.

Sora shrugged and dropped it back to his side, smiling at Vanitas. “It’s a bit of a walk,” he said apologetically, turning and making his way back through the labyrinth. His back was still sore. Sora hoped another Curaga would fix it. He didn’t really want anyone noticing and questioning him. 

The sound of feet hitting the packed earth behind him indicated that Vanitas actually was following him, albeit at a distance. One of his steps sounded heavier than the other – was he limping? He had looked alright earlier, aside from the dried blood on his face, but it was hard to see if he had any bodily injuries through the dark suit he wore. 

They made their way through The Badlands quietly, Sora stopping occasionally to wish peace and rest on the keyblades. The sun was sinking on the horizon by the time they reached the Gummi ship. Sora approached and walked up the gangplank, then turned to look at Vanitas.

Vanitas was quietly staring up at the Gummi ship from a distance, eyes wide. He limped towards it slowly, cautiously reaching a hand out to touch a bright red block. He flinched away at first contact, then pressed his hand back against it more firmly, running it up and down the ship. “You travel in this thing?” he asked.

Sora nodded. “Yup! Pretty cool, right?”

“Why don’t you just use your keyblade armor?” Vanitas had moved on to one of the blasters, peering into the barrel.

“Um… I don’t have that.”

Vanitas snorted. “No wonder you aren’t a master.”

Sora didn’t reply, merely watching as Vanitas stalked the perimeter of the ship, poking and prodding it in various places. Looking for weaknesses, maybe. Eventually he made it to the gangplank, eyeing the entrance to the ship behind Sora dubiously.

Sora turned and went in. He was settling in the front seat when Vanitas entered the ship as well and started poking at the interior. He stopped at the front of the cockpit by Sora, frowning and looking out the windows. 

“I’m going back to Destiny Islands,” Sora told him, an unspoken invitation in the words. 

Vanitas ignored him and turned his attention to the controls. Then he pressed a random button. The Gummi ship fired at blaster at the cliff in front of it. 

“Hey, don’t do that!” Sora protested, swatting his hand away, but Vanitas managed to press a few more buttons before Sora could chase him off. The Gummi ship lurched into the air, gangplank still extended, and began to rocket up into the atmosphere. Vanitas lost his footing and went hurtling to the back of the ship with a crash. Sora hastened to buckle his seatbelt and retract the gangplank, then enter in the coordinates for the Islands. 

Sora looked back for Vanitas once the ship had stabilized outside the planet’s atmosphere. He was lying on the floor by the ship’s entrance, head angled down so only his spiky black hair was visible. Sora unbuckled himself and went towards him.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Vanitas groaned incoherently. 

“Hey, c’mon, get up. Sit in a seat.” Sora gripped his forearm, but Vanitas hissed and flinched back, and Sora released him.

Finally, Vanitas lifted his head and blinked sluggishly at Sora, seemingly dazed. Blood flowed freely from his nose. “’Mfine,” he slurred. 

“Oh, man.” Sora couldn’t help but laugh a little. This was not a situation he ever thought he would find himself in. He held a finger in front of Vanitas’s face. “Can you follow my finger?” He moved it slowly side to side. Vanitas’s golden eyes watered slightly as they tracked it, but with a significant delay. “I think you might have a concussion,” Sora told him.

“Where’s the helmet?” Vanitas asked slowly, eyebrows furrowed in what appeared to great concentration.

"You mean your helmet? You’re still wearing it,” Sora said. “It’s just broken. I don’t think it can protect you from much right now.” 

“That’s great,” Vanitas slurred in what was possibly supposed to be sarcasm. 

“Can you stand?” Sora asked. “You need to get in a seat.” He cast a quick Curaga to stop the bleeding from Vanitas’s nose. “You’ll need a doctor. Curaga’s not enough for a concussion.”

Vanitas mumbled something and got to his feet, then immediately fell over again.

“Whoa!” Sora exclaimed. “Hey, easy. Take it slow. Use the wall for support.”

This was met with more grumbling, but he did listen, slowly pushing up and leaning against the wall. After a moment he took a few painful, lurching steps, Sora hovering anxiously nearby, until he was able to collapse into the closest chair. Sora set about adjusting the chair to bring it closer to his own. 

“Okay, so I’m going to need to keep an eye on you. Don’t fall asleep,” Sora told him sternly, hands on his hips. “I’m just going to take you to the doctor on the Islands, I guess…” He blew out a long sigh as he settled himself back in the pilot’s seat. “Alright, not quite the trip home I was imagining.”

***

Their progress was painstakingly slow. Vanitas’s obstinate refusal to let Sora touch him in any way meant he had to walk on his own, and his current limp combined with his new balance issues had him stumbling and falling practically every other step. Sora initially suggested he use his keyblade as support, but then had to beg him to put it away when it became obvious he was more likely to fall and impale himself on it than effectively utilize it as a cane. Sora was fiercely grateful the late hour meant that the streets were mostly empty. He didn’t think there was any good way to explain what was currently happening. But it also unfortunately meant that only the emergency room was open, which was a good deal farther into the island than the general doctor’s office was.

“C’mon. We’re almost there. Just two more blocks,” Sora encouraged, stifling a yawn. The emergency room sign was within sight. Only ten minutes away, at their current pace. 

Then Sora noticed a vague figure down the street that seemed to be coming towards them. He shot a panicked glance at Vanitas, taking in the unfocused eyes, the swollen nose, and the mass of congealed blood coating his mouth. Vanitas, for his part, fell and barely caught himself against somebody’s fence. “Crap,” Sora whispered, eyes wide. “Please don’t be anybody I know.”

It was, of course, someone he knew. “Hey, Sora!” Selphie called as she got closer, waving cheerfully. She stopped a few feet away. “Who’s your fr- Oh my gosh! Is he okay?” Her hand flew up to cover her mouth as she rushed forward to stand in front of Vanitas, who frowned and struggled to focus on her. “You poor thing, are you alright?”

“’Mfine,” Vanitas told her. “Who the fuck’re you.”

“I’m Selphie. What happened? Are you sure you’re okay? Oh, you look awful!” Selphie reached a hand out towards Vanitas’s face, and he jerked backwards, nearly unbalancing himself. When it became apparent Vanitas was too busy trying to remain standing to tell her anything, she turned to Sora. “Sora, what happened-” she broke off abruptly, blinking. “Whoa. Wait.” Her head whipped back to Vanitas, and she stepped closer to him, squinting. Vanitas tried very hard to lean away but only really succeeded at almost falling again. Selphie turned her scrutiny back to Sora, then looked between the two of them several times. “Sora, is this your _twin_?” she asked incredulously. 

“Not related,” Vanitas said firmly. 

Sora laughed nervously. It probably would be easier to just say they were twins, but what if word got back to his parents? Either way he’d be asked a lot of questions he couldn’t give answers to. “Um, no. We aren’t related,” he said finally, rubbing the back of his head.

“No way.” Selphie looked between the two of them again. “You _have_ to be related. Be honest, you’re long-lost twins, aren’t you?”

“Long-lost…?” Vanitas questioned. 

“No, we aren’t. I’m pretty sure my mom would know if she had had twins,” Sora said. “We just… happen to look exactly the same?” he tried. 

“No way,” Selphie insisted. “Sora, this is your long-lost twin. And what happened to him?”

“Head hurts,” Vanitas explained. 

“He’s concussed,” Sora translated. “We’re heading for the emergency room. And we’re still not related.”

“Oh no, that’s awful! Alright, I’ll go with you,” Selphie decided.

“Er, you really don’t have to do that,” Sora told her. “We’ll be fine on our own, seriously. It’s not far.”

“Nonsense!” Selphie exclaimed brightly. “We’ll go together, And _you_ ,” she pointed at Sora, “are going to tell me everything. I can’t believe you have a long-lost twin! What the heck!”

“Not related!” Vanitas said again, scowling. 

Selphie just smiled at him. “And what did you say your name was?”

“…Vanitas.”

“Wow, that’s a cool name,” Selphie said. “Let’s get you to the hospital, Vanitas.”

***

The emergency room visit did not go quite as smoothly as Sora could’ve hoped. First came the questions about Vanitas’s identity and insurance that Sora wasn’t really sure how to answer. Then Vanitas refused to let the doctors touch him, which made an examination rather difficult. He went on to threaten the doctors on multiple occasions, at one point even summoning his keyblade, and Sora was stuck both trying to calm him down and convince a very concerned nurse not to call the police or have Vanitas restrained. Selphie watched the whole spectacle in wide-eyed silence, later whispering in Sora’s ear, “He’s the evil twin, isn’t he?” Eventually the doctors declared him probably not permanently brain damaged, prescribed painkillers and plenty of rest, and all but threw them out of the hospital. At least they’d managed to get Vanitas a wheelchair. Sora wasn’t allowed to touch that either, but Vanitas seemed perfectly capable of moving it on his own.

“What are you going to do now?” Selphie asked Sora as the three of them loitered on the sidewalk outside. 

Sora frowned and hummed as he considered it. It probably wouldn’t be a great idea to leave Vanitas on his own. But Sora couldn’t take him to his house, either. There was no way he was going to let his parents see Vanitas. And the wheelchair meant smuggling him in through Sora’s bedroom window was out of the question. He didn’t particularly want to go barging in on Kairi or Riku right now, either, because he’d have way too much explaining to do, and then his friends would become worried that he’d been somewhere so dangerous on his own, and Sora would feel horribly guilty, and he was already emotionally exhausted. Sleeping outside would’ve been fine for just him, but Vanitas should probably recover in an actual bed. “I have no idea,” Sora concluded. 

“Well… you two can spend the night at my place, if you want?” Selphie offered. “I mean, only if you want to. But you both look exhausted, and my house is much closer…”

“Really? You’re sure that’s okay?” Sora asked.

“Sure! It’s fine. My parents are still away on business, so no one will bother us.”

“Oh.” Sora hadn’t known Selphie’s parents were away. How long had she been alone in her house? “Well then, yeah, that’d be great.” He smiled at her gratefully. 

“Vanitas? Are you okay staying at my house?” Selphie asked.

“I don’t care,” Vanitas replied. He was staring at his bottle of painkillers, apparently reading every part of the label studiously. “I just swallow these and it makes my head stop hurting?” His speech sounded substantially better.

“Swallow them with water,” Sora instructed. “Not just by themselves. And follow the dosage instructions.”

“Let’s get you something to drink, then,” Selphie said. “My place is just a few blocks from here.”

They traveled in silence to Selphie’s house, which was a small one-story affair. After being shown to a guest bedroom, Vanitas took his pills and almost immediately passed out. Sora watched briefly, fascinated, as Vanitas’s customary frown softened out into something more neutral. Sora experimentally poked his shoulder, and Vanitas curled up into the fetal position. Sora was just about to try working the remains of his helmet off when Selphie dragged him away.

“Leave him alone,” she admonished, voice low. “Let him sleep.” She guided him to a couch in the living room and pushed him down, then left and returned with glasses of milk and a plate of cookies. She set them on the nearby table and plopped down on the cushions beside Sora. “Anyway, spill. Tell me about Vanitas.”

Sora grabbed a cookie and took a bite to stall for time. He rubbed his eyes and struggled to get his mind to form an explanation that wouldn’t be revealing too much, but drew a blank. Finally he heaved a sigh and said, “We really aren’t related. He’s the… brother…? of one of my friends from another world. And he looks like me because… honestly, I can’t remember exactly why.”

“Another world?” Selphie questioned.

“Yeah. You’ve met them all, haven’t you? Roxas and Lea and Aqua and all of the others.”

“Oh, yeah,” Selphie nodded. “You said they came from across the sea.”

“Not quite? You don’t have to believe me, though.”

Selphie studied him thoughtfully while nibbling on a cookie. Finally, she nodded. “Uh-huh, sure. I’ll believe you. Why not? They all came from a different world. So whose brother is Vanitas?”

“Ventus.”

“Ventus… the spiky blond one? Doesn’t he have a twin?”

“Um, Roxas is more like… _my_ brother? He’s not actually related to Ventus.”

“They just look exactly the same.”

Sora nodded.

“This is complicated,” Selphie said.

“Yeah,” Sora agreed.

“So why is Vanitas so beaten up?” Selphie asked.

“…Don’t tell the others?” Sora fiddled with his glass of milk.

Selphie considered that. “Can I tell Tidus and Wakka?”

“I’d prefer you didn’t. Tidus can’t keep a secret.” Sora dunked a cookie in milk, but then the section he was holding broke off and the rest of the cookie sank down to the bottom. He stared at his glass morosely. 

Selphie scowled but nodded. “Fine. Just tell me.”

“We were fighting,” Sora confessed. “Vanitas is, uh, not a very friendly person.”

“Funnily enough, I noticed that. So _you_ hurt him that badly?” Selphie gazed at him in a mixture of horror and awe.

“Er, not completely. The broken nose and the limping are my fault, I think, but I didn’t really mean to. But he concussed himself. He, uh… got in a wreck and wasn’t wearing a seatbelt?”

“So do you two fight often?” Selphie asked, eyes wide.

“Not really. He wants to fight, and he attacks us a lot, but I don’t want to fight him. I try to avoid it. I’d like to be his friend.” Sora gave up on decorum and dunked his hand in his glass, fishing out the cookie.

Selphie relaxed. “That sounds more like you.” After a pause, she confessed, “He seems like he trusts you.”

“You think?” Sora asked, leaning forward. 

Selphie nodded. “Yeah. He listened to you when he wouldn’t listen to the doctors. His mind might be a little addled right now, but clearly he puts more faith in you.”

“Huh.” Sora could feel a huge grin overtaking his face. 

Selphie patted his knee. “Well, your evil twin can stay here as long as he needs to. He didn’t seem quite so bad to me. But I’m going to retire for the night. Are you taking the couch, Sora?”

Exhaustion crashed over Sora as Selphie’s words reminded him of just how long this day had been. “Yeah, thanks,” he said.

Selphie fetched him pillows and blankets, pointed out the bathroom, and then left him to his own devices. Sora considered going back to check on Vanitas, but the blanket in his lap was too tempting, and before long he was sinking into deep, restful sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alternate chapter title: "In Which Vanitas is Dumb as Hell"
> 
> sorry if you were looking forward to seeing rage form in action :/ i dont think sora is really mentally aware of himself in that state so it wouldnt make sense to write it from sora's perspective?? ive considered switching pov but that probably wont happen
> 
> sora would probably make a good doctor... im sure hes picked up a lot over the years, what with the constant fighting and the donald never fucking healing him when he needs it


	6. In Which Roxas Gets the Goods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> w. why am i writing so fast

Sora awoke to a pressure on his chest, constricting his lungs and shortening his breath. His eyes opened with a start, hands flying towards the mysterious weight, then immediately flinching back as something hard struck them away.

An Unversed was sitting on his chest, staring at him. Sora stared back for what felt like several minutes, his mind terrifying blank. Slowly, he reached a hand up towards it again. As soon as the hand was an inch away from the Mandrake, it whipped one of its head tendrils and smacked it back down, hard. Sora resumed staring in vacant incomprehension. The Mandrake shook itself slightly and settled more firmly on top of Sora.

Sora wiggled slightly. The Mandrake lashed a tendril threateningly but otherwise was still. He carefully moved his hands to his sides and pushed himself as far up as he could, then commenced slowly wriggling and shifting until the Mandrake was seated in his lap rather than on his chest. He stared at it some more. 

It was rocking back and forth in his lap, staring at him unblinkingly. Could it blink? Sora experimentally reached a hand out again and once more was struck back violently. His hand was really starting to sting, the flesh on the back red and prickling. Maybe he should stop trying to touch it. But then Sora glared at it. No, it if didn’t want to be touched it shouldn’t be sitting in his lap. 

He slowly started shifting his legs further and further apart, pausing for long intervals in between each movement as the Mandrake waved its tendrils threateningly. Eventually the Mandrake was seated on the couch instead of his legs, and Sora slowly placed one foot on the floor and swung his other leg up and over the Mandrake to reach solid ground. Standing to the side of the couch, Sora eyed the Mandrake thoughtfully. It was still staring at him, but it wasn’t actually... doing anything. It wasn’t attacking or darting around or trying to destroy something. Just sitting on the couch and staring at him.

“What do you want, little guy?” he asked it.

It rather predictably did not reply. 

Sora glanced around the room, but couldn’t see any other Unversed. Nothing appeared to be out of place, either. He was just about to stare at the Mandrake in confusion some more when he was struck by a terrible thought. Selphie! What if there were more Unversed and she was in danger? Sora took off down the hall, to the door where he had seen Selphie disappear last night. He wrenched the door open and stood panting in the doorframe, scanning the room wildly. 

“Sora! What is this thing?” Selphie was already awake, sitting up in her bed with the blankets pooled around her lap. At the end of the bed was a Hareraiser, waving its ears from side to side and making small chirping noises. On Sora’s entry, it turned its unblinking eyes on him. “It’s so weird!” Selphie continued. “And when I tried to pet it, it hit me!”

“Don’t touch it, Selphie!” Sora warned. “It’s dangerous. It’s called an Unversed, and it’s a monster that comes from Vanitas.”

“From Vanitas? What the heck does that mean?” Selphie asked.

“It’s like, um... it’s complicated? Basically, they’re dangerous, and Vanitas creates them,” Sora explained, badly.

“He creates them? How? And why’s he making monsters in my house? Is he alright?” Selphie pressed, glancing at the Hareraiser uncertainly.

Sora didn’t actually know how Vanitas made them, so he ignored that question. The last two questions were rather good ones, though. “Um.. I’ll go check on him. Can you stay away from the Unversed in the meantime, please?” 

“I’ll go with you,” Selphie said, carefully slipping out of the bed and giving the Hareraiser a wide berth. 

Sora supposed he couldn’t begrudge her that. It was her house, Unversed infestation or not. He turned to make his way over to Vanitas’s room, but froze in his tracks before he could take a single step. 

The Mandrake was sitting in the hallway. Staring at him.

“What do you want?” Sora cried. “Quit staring at me!” 

The Mandrake did not listen. Its red eyes fixed on Sora’s face unwaveringly.

“There’s another one? Ew, that one’s even weirder!” Selphie was peering over his shoulder.

“I think it’s following me,” Sora whispered. 

“Well, can we just go around it?” Selphie suggested.

“I guess we’d better try.” Sora cautiously edged away from the Unversed, plastering his back to the wall as he shimmied around it. Selphie followed his lead, and eventually they both emerged on the other side of it. They made for the closed door hiding Vanitas. 

Sora gripped the door knob tightly, turned it, and slowly shouldered the door open. He breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Vanitas lying on the bed, still curled up in fetal position, hugging a pillow to his chest. Nothing else was in the room with him.

“He’s still asleep,” Selphie whispered. “Can he make monsters in his sleep?”

Sora closed the door as carefully as he’d opened it. “I don’t know,” he whispered back. “I guess so?”

They walked back to the kitchen, the Mandrake and the Hareraiser both trailing behind them. Selphie made a valiant effort to ignore them, quietly grabbing a skillet and a carton of eggs and busying herself making omelets. Halfway through whipping up the first one, she paused and eyed the Unversed dubiously. “Should I make some for them, too?”

“I don’t think they eat,” Sora answered. He reached out a hand towards the Hareraiser and it hit him hard enough to draw blood. He flinched away.

“Okay.” Selphie silently continued with her cooking, once more studiously ignoring the monsters sitting on her kitchen floor. 

Sora considered the monsters in question at length, sliding into a stool by the kitchen counter. They weren’t actively attacking, but that didn’t mean they weren’t dangerous. They couldn’t stay here, he wouldn’t let Selphie be in danger like that. But what to do with them? He didn’t particularly want to just defeat them, because hurting Vanitas after doing so much to help him recover would be seriously counterproductive. And they weren’t attacking, anyway, so it’d just be mean. But they had to go, somehow. If they would follow him, maybe he could just... lead them away somewhere? 

Of course, he could take them to Even! He was still studying the Unversed, so Sora was sure he would appreciate being given more to work with. But that left Sora with another problem. Should he be leaving Vanitas alone for that long? And with Selphie? 

“Hey, Selphie?” Sora asked. “If I left to go take these guys,” he gestured at the Unversed, “somewhere else, would you be all right here on your own?”

Selphie put the finishing touches on the omelet and slid it front of Sora. “I’ll be fine,” she reassured him. “I can handle myself, you know.” 

“Yeah, but... Vanitas is like, really strong, and probably not above attacking defenseless people?” He hadn’t seemed to care much about Selphie last night, but that might change if he woke up with a clearer head. It wasn’t a risk he felt great about taking.

“I’ll be fine,” Selphie repeated, more firmly. “I can run and get help if there’s trouble. You know Kairi doesn’t live far from here. She can fight now, right?” 

The more Sora thought about this, the more he realized it was a terrible idea. “Never mind,” he decided. “It’s way too dangerous. I can’t ask that of you. I’ll stay here with Vanitas, and the Unversed can just... stay out of the way, hopefully.” 

Selphie frowned at him as she whipped another egg. Then she turned her frown on the Unversed. “They’re kind of really creeping me out now,” she confessed. “Do they ever blink?” 

“I’m thinking no,” Sora replied. “Thanks for the food.” He took a bite and was delighted to find it one of the best omelets he’d ever tasted. “Wow, this is really good! Think you could teach me sometime?” He quickly devoured the rest of it.

Selphie preened under the praise. “Of course,” she said. 

After breakfast they both wandered over to the couch and flipped idly through the TV channels, unable to agree on something to watch. The Unversed watched silently from a few feet away. Selphie kept sneaking glances at them out of the corner of her eye, her hand twitching against the remote.

After several tense minutes of silence, Selphie threw the remote onto the coffee table and stood up. “Agh, I can’t take this!” she yelled. “Sora, get rid of them! It’s too early in the morning to be judged like this!” She stuck her hands on her hips and turned to Sora, glaring.

“Me? I can’t just leave you!” Sora insisted. 

“Sora, get rid of them,” Selphie ground out. “I will… kick you out of my house if you don’t!”

“Huh? Wouldn’t I be leaving your house either way, then?” Sora pointed out.

“Exactly!” Selphie threw her hands up. “So it’s better to go of your own volition! I’ll be fine, really! Quit worrying about me! Go get rid of these... judgmental rabbits! I can’t stand their staring!”

“I’m pretty sure one of them’s a plant?”

“Who cares?” Selphie grabbed his wrist and yanked him to his feet, then started pushing and prodding him towards the door. The Unversed shuffled along behind them.

“Wait, wait, you could seriously be in danger on your own!” Sora protested, planting his feet as Selphie opened the door and tried to shove him through it. 

“I’m fine,” Selphie insisted. “I’ll be fine. He’s probably going to sleep for a few more hours at least. Be really quick about it and nothing will happen.” 

That still seemed a little too risky. “You could get hurt!”

“I’m going to do something stupid and get myself hurt for sure if you don’t get rid of these things! They’re really freaking me out!” Selphie threw her entire weight at Sora. She was surprisingly strong, and Sora found his feet slipping forward incrementally against the hardwood floor. He tried to grab at the doorframe as she pushed him through, but she seemed to anticipate this and doubled her efforts, pushing him past it before he could get a firm hold. Grabbing Sora’s arm in a vice-like grip, she marched around him on the porch as far away as she could get. The Unversed wandered across the threshold. Selphie quickly released Sora and darted around back to the house, jumping over the Unversed, slamming the door shut and locking it as soon as she was inside. 

Sora turned and stepped forward to pound on the door, and was immediately attacked by both Unversed. “Ah! Selphie, come on! Don’t do this!”

“I’m not opening this door until I know they’re gone!” Selphie called, voice muffled through the door. 

Sora swore softly under his breath and glared down at the Unversed, who stared back placidly. “You guys are going to follow me, and this is going to be the fastest trip I _ever_ make,” he told them sternly. “Don’t you dare slow me down.” 

He took off in a sprint for the Gummi ship, checking over his shoulder to make sure the Unversed were following. Thankfully, they were, bouncing along as fast as they could manage, which unfortunately didn’t seem to quite match Sora’s speed. He groaned in frustration and slowed his pace slightly, turning down a narrow alley. He stuck to side streets and empty lots, avoiding people as much as possible. Sora had a feeling that just because the Unversed weren’t attacking him didn’t mean they would extend the same courtesy to others. 

Sora made it to the Gummi ship in record time, running inside and starting it up as quick as he could. His Unversed entourage made themselves comfortable in the two empty seats, as if perfectly aware of what was happening. Well. Alright, then. He entered in the coordinates for Radiant Garden, shooting off a quick text to Even to warn him of his arrival.

***

“Well. That certainly is unusual,” Even agreed, eyeing the two Unversed who were still calmly following Sora down a corridor in Ansem’s lab. “My initial assumption would be that the Unversed’s behavior is a reflection of Vanitas’s feelings, but without access to Vanitas himself I have no real way of testing that. Has there been any recent change in your relationship with him that might warrant him not wanting to attack you?”

Sora thought back to the tangled mess that was the previous day. “Maybe?” he offered. “But Vanitas is actually recovering from a concussion right now. Would that affect the behavior of the Unversed at all?” 

“A concussion?” Even shot him a surprised look. “Interesting. I’m not sure. Is the connection between Vanitas and the Unversed purely emotional, or does it extend to the mental as well? Or perhaps being injured in such a way has altered his emotional state. How did you come by this information, Sora?”

“Oh, I was there when it happened. I took him to the hospital myself,” Sora answered.

“The hospital?” Even seemed even more intrigued at that. “And was their treatment at all effective on him?”

“I guess so?” Sora folded his hands behind his head. “They just gave him painkillers. He took some.” 

“How... human,” Even mused, halting in front of a steel door. He turned to face Sora. “I’m housing the first Unversed we caught in here. I suppose your new Unversed friends will be joining it.” He opened up the door and strode inside.

The room was divided into two. The side they entered into contained a wall of consoles and a white examination table covered in various surgical and scientific implements. A glass partition ran down the middle of the room, and on the other side a lone Flood twitched about erratically. It was cold, with plain white walls all around. Sora shuddered as he took it all in, feeling vaguely sick. 

“You are... treating it humanely, right?” he asked.

“Of course,” Even reassured him. “I remember your request. I’ve no desire to mess up your Plan. I believe you pursue a noble cause.” 

Sora relaxed a bit. “Okay, that’s good. So, how are we getting these guys,” he indicated the Unversed behind him, “into there?” he waved a hand at the glass partition.

“There’s a door.” Even indicated a door Sora completely hadn’t noticed, set into the wall just beside one end of the partition. “But could I ask you to do something? I’d like you to go into the area with the Flood. I’d like to see whether or not it will attack you, given recent new developments.” 

“Oh. Yeah, alright.” Sora nodded and headed towards the door Even pointed out. It led to a tight corridor that turned around to the other side of the partition. Even shut the door behind him and his Unversed companions, and Sora pushed open the other door at the end of the corridor, entering the other side of the room.

The Flood twitched and sunk into the floor, flowing straight towards Sora. It emerged right under him and swiped its claws towards his legs. Sora jumped up and angled himself away, backing up to put distance between them. The Flood twitched some more and didn’t move. The friendly(?) Unversed entered the room behind him and sat, silent and judgmental as ever, ignoring the Flood and everything else around them. 

When the Flood made no move for a long moment, Sora cautiously stepped forward. He took two more steps when the first one warranted no action. On his third step, the Flood shuddered and sank towards him once more.

“Thank you, Sora,” Even called from behind the partition. “I believe that’s good enough.”

“Okay.” Sora went back through the door, closing it behind him and trapping all the Unversed in the room. Even awaited him on the other side. 

“Thank you, Sora,” he said again. “You’ve been very helpful.” 

“No problem.” Sora flashed a quick smile. “So, learned anything yet?”

Even sighed in frustration. “Not as much as I would like. Without hearts of their own, these creatures are remarkably difficult to read. I’ve picked up a few interesting facts, but nothing close to our goal of figuring out which Unversed represents which emotion. All I can really tell you right now is that Floods are wet.”

Sora wrinkled his nose. “They’re wet?”

“Yes.” Even nodded. “Or just a bit damp, sometimes. It varies. But if you touch it with your bare hands, it’s wet.” 

Sora considered that. “Wet like the ocean or wet like a river?”

“What do you mean?”

“Um, I mean, ocean water and river water are pretty different. Which is it more like?”

“Does that matter?” Even looked at him curiously.

Sora shrugged and smiled sheepishly. “Um, I dunno. That was the only thing I could really think to ask.” He’d mostly just blurted out the first thing he’d thought that had seemed vaguely science-y, but he should’ve known better than to try and impress the man who’d spent weeks trying to actually teach him science.

“Well, I have a sample over here.” Even walked over to the examination table and plucked off a clear test tube, handing it to Sora. “Taken straight from the Flood. I haven’t analyzed it yet, but it appears safe to touch.”

Sora took the sample and unstopped it. He was halfway to sticking his finger down the tube when the stern look Even shot him had him sheepishly pouring a small amount of liquid onto his hand instead. He stoppered the tube back up and licked the liquid off his hand, ignoring Even’s noise of distress. He screwed his mouth up in disgust. “Ocean water,” he reported. “Very salty.” 

“Salty. I see,” Even said with interest. He took the tube back. “I’ll have to get this analyzed right away. You’ve given me something to consider. But didn’t you say you were in a hurry?”

“Oh, right! Selphie!” Sora’s eyes widened. “I’ve gotta go! Bye, Even! Thanks for taking those Unversed!” And he ran off the way he’d came as fast as he could.

***

He was in the Gummi ship, halfway to Destiny Islands, when his Gummiphone pinged with two separate notifications. The first was Roxas. It read:

 _hey come stop by twilight town when u can got smth for u_

The next was from Kairi, and much more alarming. It read:

_Selphie says to tell you, “hes awake but its fine take your time :(“ Who’s awake? What’s going on?_

Of course, Selphie couldn’t contact him! She didn’t have a Gummiphone. She could only text people who were in the same world as her. He hadn’t even stopped to consider that, and now Kairi knew something was going on because of it. And how long had Selphie been texting his number, trying to connect, before finally turning to Kairi? Heart thumping, he texted back:

_can u ask her what the :( means_

He had to wait several agonizing minutes before Kairi replied:

_She says “hes rude >:(((((“ Who’s rude Sora???_

Sora stopped the Gummi ship and quietly panicked. At least it didn’t sound like Selphie was in any physical danger, just being unfortunately subjected to Vanitas’s charming personality. Maybe he hadn’t given the other boy enough credit. Could he trust them both enough to go bail for a while and avoid explaining this to Kairi? He texted back:

_tell u in a bit ill be back on destiny later_

He set the ship’s course for Twilight Town and resolutely did not think very disparaging thoughts about his own cowardice.

***

Twilight Town was as lively as ever, the streets bustling with people who were talking and laughing and running around and standing in the very long queue for the bistro. Sora found Roxas away from the noise, skating in the plaza in front of the clock tower. He stopped when he noticed Sora and waved him over.

“Out here by yourself?” Sora asked, looking around.

“Yeah,” Roxas shrugged. “Just practicing some tricks, you know. I’ll meet the others later.”

“So what did you have for me?” Sora asked. 

“Oh, right! They’re in my room. Come with me.” Roxas kicked his skateboard up under his arm without even looking at it and strode off. 

Sora fell in a few steps behind. Why was his Nobody so much cooler than him? It wasn’t fair. 

Once they arrived at Roxas’s room, Sora peered around curiously. It was messy, but still somehow seemed more organized than Sora’s room. Sora was glad to see Roxas had wasted no time in acquiring so many personal belongings. 

Roxas crouched down by his bed and dragged out a cloth-wrapped bundle which he dumped in Sora’s arms. It was heavy. “Here, for you.” 

Sora carefully moved the soft brown cloth aside to reveal three shiny metal gunblades. Sora stared in awe, stroking a hand down the steel blade of one reverently. “Roxas,” he breathed. “No way.”

Roxas laughed. “Yeah, way. Seifer was in town the other day, and I remembered your text about wanting to get a gunblade, so I figured I’d see what I could do,” Roxas explained. “It took some negotiation, and a spar or two, but eventually he let me have those. I don’t need them, so they’re all yours, for whatever you wanted them for.”

Sora very carefully set the gunblade bundle on a nearby table and then tackled Roxas in a hug. “They’re so shiny and cool and beautiful thank you so much!” he babbled. 

“Hey, it wasn’t like it was that much of chore or anything.” Roxas returned the hug, then stepped away and rubbed the back of his head bashfully. 

Sora went back to the gunblades, lifting one up in his hands. He tested the edge of the sword and cut his finger easily, effortlessly. He poked at the gun part until he managed to successfully open the chamber and found it fully loaded. “This is _so cool_ ,” he gasped. “Forget the keyblade. I’m a gunblade wielder now.”

“That’s probably not a good idea,” Roxas told him, smiling.

“Still,” Sora insisted, reverently placing the gunblade back among its peers. Then he frowned as he realized something. “Hey, think I’d be able to get any more gunblades off of Seifer?”

Roxas shook his head. “I don’t think so. Apparently these things are pretty rare. And they take a ton of training to use properly. It’s what Seifer’s in the middle of learning right now, I guess. But I don’t think he _has_ any more to give away. He was already pretty generous.” He frowned. “How many gunblades do you need?”

“Oh. Like… twenty?” Sora had no idea how many people were in the Keyblade Organization. “We were going to play Gunblade Volleyball.”

“Gunblade…Volleyball,” Roxas said, clearly holding back a laugh. “Gunblade Volleyball?”

“Yeah!” Sora nodded emphatically. “Gunblade Volleyball! It was going to be great! Who doesn’t love a good gunblade! But, I guess if we can’t get enough for everyone, we’ll just have to go back to Keyblade Volleyball.” Sora crossed his arms, pouting. 

“You’re still working on Keyblade Volleyball?” Roxas asked.

“Yeah! Not that we’ve really figured anything out yet, but I guess the gunblades will still come in handy. They can go to the people with the weirdest weapons.”

“That’s pretty smart,” Roxas remarked. Then he chuckled. “But a really weird reason to need gunblades. I’m kinda glad I didn’t have to tell Seifer that.”

Sora shrugged and gathered up the gunblades. “Thanks again for these gunblades! I need to be getting back, but I’ll come visit this weekend?”

“Yeah, sure,” Roxas agreed. “I’ll let the others know. But before you go,” he called as Sora made his way to the door, “I did want to ask you something.”

Sora turned back around, carefully adjusting the gunblades in his arms. “Yeah?”

Roxas abruptly sobered up, all traces of a smile vanishing from his face as he stared straight into Sora’s eyes. “Are you alright?”

Sora fidgeted and looked at the floor. “I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Roxas sighed. “Okay. Let’s start with why you went to the Keyblade Graveyard all alone? And asked me not to tell anyone else?”

“That was…” He scuffed his toe against the floor. “I just wanted to be alone. And I didn’t want anyone to worry about me, since everyone thinks the Badlands are dangerous.”

“It is a dangerous place. Why didn’t you want anyone coming with you?”

“I told you, I just needed to be alone for a while. That’s all.” Sora adjusted the gunblades again. 

Roxas continued to gaze at him steadily. “And did you run into any trouble, in the Badlands?”

Sora tried not to squirm. “Only… only a little.”

“Define a little?”

“Vanitas?”

“ _Sora_.”

Sora did squirm at that. “Okay, okay, I was avoiding my friends because I’ve been thinking about some stuff and I didn’t want to bother them with it! And I ran into Vanitas and we had a pretty big fight and we both got really hurt but it’s fine now! We’re both alright. And he’s on Destiny Islands and none of the others know and I kinda need to get back soon?” The words burst out of Sora as if they were weighted down by chains, still linked to his mouth, dragging him down with them. But at the same time, he felt lightened by their leaving him at all.

Roxas ran a hand through his spiked hair. “Sora,” he said again. “Does anyone else know this?”

Sora shook his head.

Roxas’s gazed softened. “I get not wanting to worry your friends about things. Trust me, I do. But if you keep everything to yourself, it’s only going to get worse. For you and everyone you care about it. You can’t handle everything on your own. No matter how much you might think otherwise,” he said bitterly. “Talk to people, Sora.”

Sora bowed his head. “Okay…”

Roxas sighed. “See you this weekend, then.”

Sora nodded and quietly slipped out of the room.

***

It was already dinnertime when he arrived back on the Destiny Islands. He made a beeline for Selphie’s house, ringing the doorbell and waiting impatiently on the stoop.

Selphie answered the door, attired in a white fluffy bathrobe, her hair up in curlers. “Sora!” she greeted. “I’m afraid Vanitas has already left.”

“What?” Sora’s heart sank. “He left?”

“Yeah. He was here one minute, and then the next he just… wasn’t. I didn’t see him use a door or a window or anything, but he’s definitely not in the house anymore,” she said.

“But… his injury?” Didn’t he realize it was dangerous to be on his own, right now?

Selphie waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, I don’t think we need to worry much about that. He was walking and talking all normally, and I asked him about his head and he said it felt fine. I think he’s already mostly recovered. The doctor did say it might not take that long, right? Just a few days?”

“But it’s only been one day,” Sora protested.

“Maybe he’s got an especially quick recover time?” Selphie suggested.

Sora tried not to look as crushed as he felt. He shouldn’t have expected Vanitas to stay. 

“Hey, don’t look so down!” Selphie cheered. “I’m sure you’ll see him again soon. And, he did ask about you.”

“He did?”

“Yeah, he asked where you went. I told him I wasn’t sure, but that you’d be back sometime today. It’s a shame he left before then.”

“Yeah,” Sora agreed glumly. 

“Anyway, as sorry as I am that you missed him, I’m kinda relieved he left! I meant it when I said he could stay as long as he needed, but he was just an awful guest!” She crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks indignantly. “As soon as he woke up he just started going through all of my things! And when I tried to get him to stop, he’d shove me away and say something nasty! Then he wouldn’t even touch the breakfast I made him. Next he got a hold of the TV remote and started mashing buttons at random, totally messing up all of my TV settings! I didn’t even know how he managed half of the things he did to my poor TV, but I had to go dig out the user’s manual and look up how to get it back to normal!”

“Uh,” Sora tried to interject.

“He kept fiddling with the lamp, too! I thought I was going to have to unplug it or something!” Selphie continued. “I FINALLY got him to sit down and leave my stuff alone when I put on a movie, but then he just talked through the whole thing! He kept making mean comments about the characters or asking really weird questions!”

“Weird questions?” Sora managed to ask.

“ _Really_ weird. Like, what kind of upbringing did this guy have?” Selphie asked. “He’d ask why these two characters kept spending time together, or what the difference between love and friendship is, or _what kissing is and why you’d do it_ , or why the main character was confessing his love for this girl when he clearly had a stronger bond with his best friend. I mean, _what_?” 

“Oh, no.” Sora felt a flush creep up his neck. He should’ve stayed with Selphie, but not at all for the reasons he’d been thinking of. “Well, um,” he coughed. “Thank you very much for looking after him. I really appreciate it.”

“Sure, sure,” Selphie waved him off. “What are friends for? But you should really teach him some manners, Sora. And show him a few more romances, since he clearly doesn't get it.”

“O-Okay.” Sora was _not_ going to do that. He’d… make Kairi do it, or something, if they ever got to that point. But Sora would probably die of embarrassment if he ever had to answer questions like that. “Thanks again, Selphie,” he told her earnestly. “If everything’s alright here, then I should probably go… talk to Kairi,” he sighed.

“Oh, yeah,” Selphie nodded. “She was texting me with a lot of questions. I didn’t tell her anything, I figured you’d do a better job of it.”

“Yeah, thanks. I’ll go clear that up now.”

“Alright. Goodnight, Sora! Let me know if your weird evil twin ever comes back to town.” She gave a little wave.

“Goodnight, Selphie.” He waved back as he backed down the house’s walkway. He let out a long breath and stopped once he was down the street. Okay, then. One thing left to do for today. Go talk to Kairi. He turned down the road that led to Kairi’s house with heavy feet. Time to figure out what the heck he was supposed to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> vanitas..... hes trying.... kind of.......
> 
> mr edgelord "i am the darkness incarnate" has never had to like, be an actual human and do human things with other people before. probably never seen a romcom in his life. has no idea what a "date" is. never encountered a "dvd" or a "tv remote." fucking idiot


	7. In Which Vanitas Makes a Choice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda went ham on this chapter

“Sora! Explain!” Kairi insisted as soon as he was settled on a chair in her room. She paced back and forth in front of him. Riku leaned against the wall by the door, looking at Sora with a small worried frown.

“Vanitas was in Selphie’s house,” Sora said, looking down at his hands and twiddling his thumbs. No way he could lie outright, not to Riku and Kairi. Best to rip the band-aid off quickly. 

“What!” Kairi exclaimed, coming to an abrupt stop and whipping her head to stare at Sora.

Riku looked at Sora in clear dismay. “Sora, how could you?”

“He’s gone now,” Sora said, still fixating on his hands. “And he never hurt her. He was just rude. You know how he is.” He bounced a leg up and down. “I planned to stay there the whole time, to keep an eye on him, but some Unversed got into Selphie’s house and she made me leave to go deal with them.” 

“Still, Sora!” Kairi shouted. “You could’ve gotten one of our friends hurt! Or killed!” 

“Hey, wait, wait,” Riku interjected. “I agree, but start at the beginning. Why was Vanitas in Selphie’s house?”

“We fought,” Sora said. “Yesterday, in the Keyblade Graveyard. I went to pay respects. I wasn’t expecting anyone else to be there, but Vanitas was, and he attacked me. It was a pretty serious fight. Vanitas’s helmet was broken, and he ended up with a concussion.”

“A concussion,” Riku repeated incredulously. 

Sora nodded. “Yeah, so I took him to the emergency room here on the Islands. And we ran into Selphie on the way, and she insisted on coming with us, and then she let us stay the night. So, Vanitas was at Selphie’s house.”

“Hang on, back up,” Kairi instructed. “Why were you alone in the Keyblade Graveyard?”

Sora moved his gaze to the expanse of wall beside Riku. “I just wanted to be by myself for a while. And I really didn’t think I’d find any trouble in the Badlands. I figured it’d be deserted.” 

“Sora, you should have at least told someone,” Kairi said.

“I agree,” Riku added. “If you need to be by yourself for a while, fine, but let someone know where you are, just in case.”

“I... did,” Sora admitted. “I told Roxas. I figured he’d keep it to himself... I thought if anyone else knew, they might try to go with me.”

“You couldn’t tell us?” Kairi asked, her eyes shining with the threat of tears even as her voice clearly conveyed offence.

Sora curled up on himself, drawing his knees to his chest. “I’m really sorry! I didn’t want to worry you guys!”

Riku scoffed. “Well, good job on that one,” he muttered.

Sora flinched and buried his face between his knees. 

“Sora, we’re your best friends, right?” Kairi asked, her voice thick. 

Sora’s head snapped back up. “Of course! Always!” He looked at Kairi and Riku both. “I really didn’t mean to hurt you guys. I was trying to avoid that,” he stated wryly. 

“You’re an idiot,” Riku told him, sighing. “But that’s nothing new. You’ll keep us in the loop next time, _won’t you_?” 

Sora nodded so hard his head hurt. “Yes! Promise!” 

“Okay,” Kairi sniffled. “You better keep that promise. I’d rather you just worry us than avoid us.” 

Sora’s gaze dropped back to the floor. “I’m sorry,” he said again. 

“Alright, so go back to the part where Selphie spent the day with Vanitas?” Riku prompted. 

“Oh.” Sora sniffled himself and took a minute to collect his scattered thoughts. “Right. Yeah, he had a concussion and was really out of it for a while. Could barely even walk, so I figured he probably wouldn’t be able to do much damage here. I didn’t mean for Selphie to get involved, though.” 

“And... Selphie’s alright?” Kairi questioned. “I guess she seemed fine when I was texting her earlier...”

“Yeah, she’s fine. I talked to her just before I came here. She had a lot to complain about, but she isn’t hurt in any way,” Sora said. 

“Why did you leave her alone with him, again?” Riku asked.

“There were Unversed... Vanitas just made them in his sleep, I guess. They never attacked us or anything, but they kept following us around it was really creepy. Selphie was scared of them. She kicked me out and told me to get rid of them,” Sora explained.

“How does getting rid of Unversed translate into leaving for another world?” Kairi asked. “Just defeat them and be done with it.”

Sora shook his head. “That’d be mean. They weren’t hurting anyone. And I didn’t want to be hurting Vanitas, anyway. He was injured.” 

“Sora, it’s not mean,” Riku said incredulously. “They’re monsters. They hurt people all the time.”

“It is mean!” Sora insisted. “ _Those_ Unversed weren’t hurting people! Anyway, I took them to Even.”

“And they just followed you there?” Riku rubbed his forehead.

“Uh-huh.”

“And they never attacked you? Or anyone else?” Kairi frowned thoughtfully.

“Nope. Well, actually,” Sora corrected, “they did attack me a few times, but only because I tried to touch them. Otherwise they were fine.” 

“That’s weird,” Kairi stated.

“So while you were doing that, Selphie was with Vanitas?” Riku pressed.

“Yes. Apparently, he was very rude,” Sora said. “But he never tried to hurt her. We need to give him some more credit, I guess.” Sora admittedly felt a bit guilty for assuming the worst. Evidently Vanitas didn’t go around attacking innocents indiscriminately. Or maybe he was capable of recognizing and respecting that Selphie had been there to help him. 

“I still don’t like it.” Kairi crossed her arms. “And I’m going to lecture Selphie on this later, too. You both need to be more careful. This could’ve turned out much worse.” 

“Yeah.” Riku mirrored Kairi’s posture. “You could’ve told us. I could’ve gone over and stayed with Selphie. Leaving her alone like that was dangerous.” 

Sora rubbed the back of his head. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t ready to explain why he was there yet. I guess I was trying to put it off as long as possible,” he mumbled. 

Kairi sighed and dropped her arms back to her sides. “Sora, you are going to spend the night here,” she said in a tone that brooked no argument. “And we are all going to watch movies and braid each other’s hair and play truth or dare, and you are going to tell us all about what’s been bothering you lately. And then we will return the favor and tell you all of our problems, and we’ll all remember that we no matter how stupid we might be sometimes we all love each other and are best friends forever. Okay?” 

Sora smiled and nodded meekly. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Can we skip the hair braiding?” Riku asked. “It took forever to get all those little braids out last time.”

“Absolutely not,” Kairi told him serenely. 

Sora laughed. It was a bit shaky, but completely genuine. He spent that night telling them about the day before in greater detail, even mentioning that he’s tried using darkness to defeat Vanitas, although he neglected to go into specifics. By the time they were finally falling asleep in the early hours of the morning, Sora felt lighter and more at ease with himself, even if he never had gotten around to explaining why he had wanted to be alone so badly in the first place.

***

That weekend saw Sora holding a street performance with Roxas, Xion, Lea, and Isa, while Hayner, Pence, and Olette ran about collecting munny. Roxas did tricks on his skateboard, feet a blur as he flipped and jumped around. At one point he even ran up a building just to skate back down, reaching for the ground with one hand and striking a pose before flipping back to his feet and skating off again. Lea juggled flaming clubs, throwing them in a wide circle for Xion to run and jump through, sticking every landing with aplomb. Isa challenged random spectators to various feats of strength, inevitably impressing everyone when he effortlessly beat every record. Sora ran around the area performing different acrobatic tricks, spinning and jumping on barrels or running along the sides of buildings and backflipping off into short glides. Judging by the way Hayner, Pence, and Olette were scurrying all over the place without stopping, they were really raking in the munny.

After an hour or two the excitement started to wind down as the spectators trickled off to business elsewhere. Twenty more minutes, and they were all convening around a table at the bistro, counting their earnings and deciding they’d made enough to splurge on a fancy meal. 

“Now _that_ ,” Lea proclaimed proudly, “is how you make money for a beach trip. Everyone got it memorized?”

“I gotta say, this is way more money than I’ve ever earned at my job,” Hayner said, sounding very impressed. 

“It was a great idea, Axel!” Xion exclaimed, bouncing in her seat. “They loved us!” 

“And we’ve got enough for the beach and then some,” Pence commented as he sorted the munny into separate piles. 

“Should I just quit my job?” Hayner wondered.

“Don’t do that,” Isa admonished. “Street performances are not reliable. If we do this every day, the townspeople will cease to be impressed.” 

“Oh, that’s a good point,” Olette said. 

“Alright! Here’s everyone’s cut!” Finished with his sorting, Pence shoved each pile at a different person. “It doesn’t split evenly, so the extra here has been set aside for our meal,” he explained. 

“I’m rich,” Roxas breathed, eyes wide, as he cradled his munny pile in his arms. 

Lea stuck his hand on Roxas’s head and mussed up his hair. “Don’t go blowing it all on that new skateboard, alright? Save some for the beach.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go with us, Sora?” Xion asked.

“Nah, I’m okay.” Sora counted through his munny quickly. More than enough to go buy those Gummi blocks he’d been eyeing. He’d stick the rest in savings. His Christmas gift budget was going to be _so_ big this year.

Olette giggled. “Doesn’t he live on a beach? This probably isn’t as exciting for him.” 

“Yes, how are the Islands?” Isa asked. “We haven’t been in a while.” 

“Oh, it’s fine. The same as ever. Not much changes around there, you know,” Sora answered. 

“Still, must be nice to live on a beach,” Hayner said wistfully. “Swimming and tanning whenever you want... endless games of beach volleyball... Falling asleep to the sound of the waves...”

“Hey, speaking of beach volleyball,” Roxas said, a mischievous glint in his eye, “how goes the Gunblade Volleyball, Sora?”

“The _what_ volleyball?” Lea squawked.

“You already know it can’t happen,” Sora pouted. “There aren’t enough gunblades.”

“Sora,” Lea said seriously. “You’re either an idiot or a mad genius, and sometimes it’s really hard to decide which. Please tell me about Gunblade Volleyball.”

“Well, it’s volleyball but with gunblades,” Sora explained. “I was picturing it as like, serve with the blade, keep the ball up with the gun? With the occasional fancy combo move? But there aren’t enough gunblades for everyone, so it can’t happen. It’s back to Keyblade Volleyball.”

“Oh man, Keyblade Volleyball was fun. A shame I can’t experience Gunblade Volleyball,” Lea remarked, folding his long arms behind his head.

“You only think it was fun because you were cheating like crazy,” Roxas grumbled.

“You mean winning like crazy?” Lea grinned.

“You said there weren’t _enough_ gunblades,” Xion pointed out. “Doesn’t that mean you have _some_?”

“Yeah, three,” Sora nodded. “I was thinking I should give them to people with weird weapons who couldn’t otherwise play Keyblade Volleyball.” 

“You should give them to us!” Pence exclaimed. “It sounds fun!” 

“‘Weird weapons’ covers a lot of people,” Isa pointed out. “Perhaps you should set up a rotation, so everyone can play in turns.” 

“Oh, that’s a great idea! You guys will definitely be on the rotation,” Sora promised Hayner, Pence, and Olette. 

“Put Naminé on there too,” Roxas added.

“Of course,” Sora nodded.

“You’ll need to consider training, as well,” Isa said. “You can’t just give someone a gunblade and expect them to be able to play volleyball with it. They’ll need to learn how to use it.”

“Could Seifer help with that, too?” Sora wondered.

Roxas shook his head. “Probably not. He’s still in training himself, remember? I suppose someone has to be training him, though. I’ll ask if I see him again.” 

“Thanks!” Sora flashed him a smile. “There’s always Leon, too, but I’m not sure how willing he’d be to train someone to use a weapon just so they can play volleyball.” 

“Well, does he need to _know_ it’s for volleyball?” Lea asked. 

“I... guess not,” Sora admitted. 

“You shouldn’t lie,” Olette scolded. 

“You don’t need to _lie_.” Lea shrugged. “Just don’t tell him what’s it’s for if he doesn’t ask.”

“He might not have time anyway,” Sora said. “He’s pretty busy. But I’ll ask.” 

“Learning to use a gunblade would be so cool!” Hayner exclaimed. “No monsters would get past me!”

“Don’t you mean no volleyballs?” Xion laughed. 

“Sure!” Hayner agreed easily. “Just watch!” He stood up to demonstrate how cool his theoretical gunblade skills would be and bumped right into the waiter come to deliver their food. The others all laughed as Hayner sheepishly sunk back into his seat.

“Well, time to enjoy the fruit of our labors!” Pence proclaimed. 

Sora nodded heartily in agreement, his mouth watering at the sight of his freshly made beef bourguignon. He should really come visit more often. This was one of the best places around to get a full heart and a full belly.

***

The capital city of Corona was as busy and bustling as Sora remembered, filled with people scurrying around, buying food and decorations, adorning their hair and clothing with flowers, playing and dancing along with the music that seemed to play from every corner. But this year everything seemed just a tad brighter, as the people celebrated their first year with their princess back safe and sound. And married, apparently, as Sora gathered from the street gossip.

“What? Why wasn’t I invited to the wedding?” Sora cried, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Probably because they didn’t know how to contact you,” Donald huffed. “You’re the one who hasn’t been here in a year.”

“Gawrsh, Sora, don’t let it get you down,” Goofy said, picking a flower out of his hat. “I’m sure they would’ve invited you if they had known how.” 

“Yeah, I guess.” Sora sighed and dropped his arms. “Well, we should go find and congratulate them.”

Sora had, for once, managed to gather nearly every single one of his friends in one place - the usual members of the Keyblade Organization, the guys in Radiant Garden (even including Leon and co.), and his friends at Disney Castle. It had taken a lot of back and forth shuttling in the Gummi ship, but Sora was excited to be able share this with everyone. It was fun to tell stories of his travels, but some things simply had to be experienced in person. Corona was a splendid kingdom with an amazingly kind princess, and the lantern show they’d be treated to later tonight was beautiful to behold. Sora was sure his friends would appreciate it.

He began to make his way to the castle, Donald and Goofy trailing along behind like old times, with Donald even pointing out a few ingredients lying around as they went. The others had all dispersed to explore the city and surrounding country on their own. 

Rapunzel and Flynn - or was it Eugene now? - were sitting by a fountain in front of the castle. Rapunzel’s eyes widened as she caught sight of them, and she jumped up and ran towards them.

“Sora!” she cried, sweeping him up into a hug that was readily returned. “And Donald! Goofy!” She hugged them as well, Donald squawking in protest and Goofy patting her back gently. 

Eugene approached them at a more leisurely pace. “Well, if it isn’t my favorite sidekicks! I was wondering if I’d ever see you again.”

Sora rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry it’s been so long. I heard you two got married?”

“Yes, that’s right!” Rapunzel exclaimed, nodding enthusiastically. It was still a bit strange to see her with short hair. Then her face fell. “I’m so sorry you missed it! I wanted to invite you, but...”

“Hey, it’s alright,” Sora reassured her. “We didn’t exactly leave our address or anything.” 

“If I may say so, you missed a _very_ excellent wedding,” Eugene told him.

“I am sorry I missed it. But hey, congratulations! You two are great together,” Sora said, smiling.

“Thank you, thank you, I know. But what brings you here after so long?” Eugene asked. 

“I wanted to see you guys again, of course!” Sora grinned, folding his hands behind his head. “And, uh, then I remembered what day it is, so I brought all of my friends to town too. I figured it’d be nice to show them the lanterns.” His eyes widened as realization struck. “Oh yeah! Happy birthday, Rapunzel! I made you something! It’s... uh... where is it?”

“Back on the Gummi ship,” Donald said, the look he gave Sora pure disappointment. 

Goofy laughed. “Forgetful as always, isn’t he?” To Rapunzel, he said, “Sora baked you a cake!”

“A cake?” Rapunzel gasped. “I didn’t know you could cook!”

Sora looked down bashfully. “Well, I’m still learning, but I think this one turned out okay. I’ll guess I’ll have to give it to you later.” 

“In the meantime, do you think you could introduce me to the friends you brought along?” Rapunzel asked. “Any friend of yours must be a good person, Sora.” 

“Yeah, sure! Both of you should come! We’ll have to find them all first, though,” Sora replied. 

They spent the rest of the day running all through the town, tracking down all of Sora’s many friends in order to introduce them to Rapunzel and Eugene. It was dusk, the sky a gradient of dark blue as the sun slipped its last few rays under the horizon, when they found Ventus, Terra, and Aqua, the last three of Sora’s friends Rapunzel had yet to meet. 

Sora averted his gaze as they made their introductions. He felt... strange. He wasn’t quite sure why, but a little niggling feeling was worming its way through his heart, something that might have been sadness or perhaps regret. It seemed to intensify whenever he looked at Ventus, Terra, and Aqua. He kept his eyes fixed firmly on the darkening sky. 

“Hey, so, doesn’t the lantern thing start soon?” he asked when it seemed all the introductions had been made. 

Rapunzel gasped. “Yes, it should! We need to be back at the castle, Eugene!” She grabbed Eugene’s arm and started to pull him away. “It was very nice to meet you all! Stop by the castle later!” 

“Wait!” Sora called. “Can we use the boats to watch from the river?”

“Sure!” Eugene’s voice floated back to them faintly as he and Rapunzel faded into the dark. 

“We’re meeting the others by the river, right?” Aqua asked. 

“That’s right!” Sora grinned, gaze sliding off her to look at the space behind her. “We’d better get a move on!” 

They arrived to find everyone else was already waiting for them. Sora was dismayed to find there weren’t quite enough boats for all of them, but then Lea, and subsequently all of his friends, offered to stay behind. Leon, Cloud, Cid, Tifa, and Aerith also agreed to stay on land. The others split the boats among themselves, and they ended up with one extra. Sora was just readying to push off his boat with Riku and Kairi when he saw it, a pair of red eyes cutting through the dark.

“Unversed!” Xion was quicker, dispatching the Flood with a swift strike as she raised the alarm. A collective groan arose as everyone abandoned their boats and readied weapons instead. 

“Isn’t this thing going to start soon? He’s going to make us miss it!” Lea cried, outraged.

“What are these things?” Tifa asked, punting a Hareraiser straight onto the edge of Kairi’s keyblade. 

“Unversed,” Ventus spat. “Which means Vanitas.” 

The funny feeling in Sora’s chest rose again at Ventus’s words, and he just barely managed to bite back an angry retort. 

“So this isn’t somehow Sephiroth?” Cloud asked. “Thank the Planet. Duck.”

Ventus just barely ducked in time as Cloud’s sword went slicing through the air where his head had been moments before, decapitating a Scrapper that stood to the side. “It’s been a while, though,” Ventus commented as he straightened back up. “And why not attack the town? That’s the easier target.”

“I suppose he must not be after negative emotion this time,” Terra remarked. “He probably just wants you again, Ven.”

“Ugh. Why can’t he just leave me alone?” Ventus stabbed his keyblade through a Flood, hard.

Sora bit his tongue again. His chest felt tight. He couldn’t look at Ventus. Suddenly it was awful, to be here. Almost unbearable. The sounds of swishing keyblades and clattering Unversed and grunting, yelling people rose to a fever-pitch, blood roaring in his ears and pounding behind his eyes and it was hard to breathe, his chest was too _tight_ , he needed to leave _now_. He stumbled blindly towards the nearby fringe of trees, barely even noticing the Flood that swiped at his legs as he passed. He walked and walked until the sounds of battle faded, and the pressure in his chest slowly lightened and eased up its grip. He leaned against a tree and breathed deeply, absorbing the scent of pine and wildflowers and rotted leaves. Slowly, his muscles relaxed and his heart began to beat at a stable rhythm. 

Sora looked around him. He’d come much farther into the woods than he’d intended, and he could no longer see or hear any of the others. A little to his left he could just make out the beginnings of a small clearing tinged with moonlight. It felt like the place he should go. He made towards it, but stopped after a few steps. It was utterly quiet. He took another step, and there was a faint rustling. He stopped again. Quiet. He began to walk again and could pick out the faint crackle of leaves behind him. He was being followed. Heartrate skyrocketing once more, he summoned his keyblade and whirled around, striking out.

He locked blades with a pink scythe, Marluxia watching him wide-eyed. Sora quickly dropped his keyblade and stepped back, willing his heart to relax. “W-What,” he tried, and took a deep breath. “Why are you following me?”

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” Marluxia said. “I’m sorry.” He was watching carefully and holding absolutely still, as if he thought the slightest movement might set Sora off.

“Why are you following me?” Sora repeated, finally bringing his heart back under control.

“It’s dangerous for you to be off by yourself. You know that, yes?” Marluxia asked.

“Yeah. Okay,” Sora said.

“I… also wished to apologize to you,” Marluxia confessed. “I feel I upset you, last time we talked. It wasn’t my intention.”

“Oh.” Sora looked away, guilt clawing up his throat. “No, I’m sorry. It shouldn’t have upset me. You were right, anyway.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Marluxia said. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” He wasn’t sure if that was true or not. He didn’t know why he was acting this way, but he was beginning to suspect these emotions were not his own.

“Are you going after Vanitas?”

“Yeah. Are you coming along?” At Marluxia’s nod, Sora added, “Do you think you could stay out of sight? I feel it’s better if I see him alone.”

“Of course,” Marluxia agreed. “Whatever you feel is best.”

Sora continued towards the clearing. It was larger than he had thought, bordered on all sides by tall pines and covered in soft grass and small white flowers. The moon shone faintly above, providing the only source of light. The lantern thing hadn’t started yet, then. He looked around the clearing, not entirely sure what he was looking for, but certain he had found it when he spotted Vanitas leaning against a tree on the far side. 

Vanitas looked at him as he approached and opened his helmet. “You feel weird,” he accused. “What did you do?”

“I do feel weird,” Sora agreed, stopping a short distance away. “And I don’t know.”

Vanitas closed the distance, looking Sora up and down, his pupils dilated. “You’re…darker,” he breathed. “When did that happen?”

Something sank within Sora at his words. “Are you sure?” he blurted out.

“Yes.” Vanitas grinned in a very un-reassuring way. “Did I do that? It feels a bit like me.”

Sora felt he might sink into the ground just like a Flood, at this rate. “I don’t know,” he said again, miserably. 

Vanitas stepped even closer, so their faces were only inches apart. This close, it was even more obvious that Sora was staring at his own face. The eyes and the smile were different, but the differences were somehow even worse, as if this is what Sora would look like warped by darkness. He didn’t want to hear these words while looking at this face. “Interesting,” Vanitas said, grin widening. 

Sora stepped back. He scanned the sky desperately, but it remained cold and black and empty. “What do you want?” he asked.

“Me? Nothing,” Vanitas replied. “Isn’t there something _you_ wanted?”

Had there been? Sora was finding it hard to think as the tightness in his chest increased again. He always wanted to try something with Vanitas. What had he been thinking about when the Unversed had first showed up, before everything had become too much? He couldn’t remember anything. The edges of the clearing began to darken.

“Breathe,” Vanitas suggested, raising an eyebrow. 

Sora suddenly realized he was hyperventilating. 

“Slower than that,” Vanitas suggested again.

That wasn’t helpful. 

“Sit down?” Vanitas tried.

He could do that one, maybe. Sora tried to sink slowly into a sitting position and ended up crashing to the ground instead. He placed his palms flat against the soft grass and dug his fingers into dirt. He tried to focus on breathing more slowly. Staring fixedly at a flower a few inches in front of him, he counted the seconds in between each breath, until the numbers rose from one to three to six. “Okay,” he murmured. “Okay.”

Vanitas crouched in front of him, frowning. “What’s wrong with you?”

Sora remembered what he’d been thinking about. “Come watch the lanterns with me,” he said, raising his head to meet Vanitas’s gaze.

“The lanterns?” Vanitas asked.

“Yes. They’re really pretty. We have boats, so we can watch them from the river.”

“You and all your friends?” Vanitas scowled. “Forget it.”

“You don’t have to be with them. We can take our own boat.” They’d understand, hopefully. 

“I’d be _around_ them,” Vanitas complained.

“They’ll probably ignore you,” Sora hoped. “Come with me, please?”

“What do I gain from this?”

A meaningful connection with another person? “I don’t know, what do you want?”

The question seemed to startle Vanitas. “You’ll do something for me?”

“Sure!” Sora agreed. “Within reason,” he hastily amended. 

Vanitas considered him thoughtfully. And then, amazingly, he nodded. “Okay. I’ll watch these…lanterns.”

“Really?” Sora grinned and bounced to his feet with a burst of energy, his earlier episode completely forgotten. “Great! Come with me! Quick, before it starts!” He took off back towards the river, fiercely hoping that Vanitas would actually follow.

It seemed he had, for not long after Sora had emerged back where the others were waiting, every head swiveled to stare in his direction incredulously. At least until Marluxia, who had apparently managed to slip back and rejoin the group without Sora or Vanitas noticing, pointedly cleared his throat. Everyone hastily resumed breaking off into groups and staking claims to boats. Ventus shot him a quick glance Sora couldn’t quite decipher.

Sora marched off towards one of the boats after a quick glance confirmed that Vanitas was very uncomfortable but apparently not about to bolt. He stopped by an empty boat and set about preparing to shove it off. He glanced to his right at where Riku and Kairi were preparing their own boat and mouthed a quick “sorry” at them. Riku waved a hand permissively and Kairi shot him a thumbs-up. 

Once they were both settled into the boat and out on the water, Sora made sure to row them away from the others. The water was still and dark, reflecting nothing but the faint, partial moon and the cold, distant stars. Sora shivered as a chill ran through him. Vanitas was looking around them, taking in the water, the sky, the boats, the distant city. 

“I think it will start soon,” Sora said to fill the silence. “I brought a lantern, too.”

“Where will they come from?” Vanitas asked.

“The people release them into the sky,” Sora answered. Just then, he noticed a small dot of orange light breaking free from the city and floating serenely up to join the heavens. “See? There!” Sora pointed it out. Vanitas turned to look.

The singular small dot was soon joined by another, and then another and another and another, and soon the sky was filled with soft orange light, reflecting off the still water, the orange blurring into the black like some abstract painting. The lanterns floated up and up, a mass of light made beautiful by the background of black sky. Sora got out his own lantern and lit it. His friends around them were doing the same, releasing their lanterns into the air. Sora caught Vanitas’s eye, smiled, and released his lantern. Vanitas watched it go, staring intensely. 

The light from the lanterns released from the boats joined the light reflected off the water to bathe the whole river in a soft glow. Sora watched with a small smile, the sadness and fear and agitation from earlier melting away. 

He snapped out of his peaceful lull when he realized Vanitas was moving towards him. Sora sat still and watched him, more curious than alarmed, as Vanitas sat a few inches in front of him and placed a hand on Sora’s chest, over his heart.

“Sora,” he said, the light of his eyes like a mirror of the lanterns. “Fuse with me.”

“Oh.” Sora’s mind turned that over slowly. Somehow, sitting in the dark surrounded by thousands of floating lights, the request didn’t seem so alarming. “No,” Sora said after due consideration. “We wouldn’t fit together. One of us would…win, and then the other might be gone forever. I don’t want either of us to lose who we are.”

Vanitas’s face showed disappointment, but not surprise or anger. “I’m not really anybody,” he said. “There’s nothing to lose.”

That’s suicide, Sora realized. _He’s asking me to kill him._ “That’s not true,” he whispered. “You’re a person, too.”

“Am I?”

“ _Yes_.”

“Tell me what I’m supposed to do, then.” Vanitas removed his hand from Sora’s chest.

Sora felt slightly colder for its loss. “You can do whatever you want. It’s up to you. Everyone has a choice, remember? What do you choose to be?”

Vanitas moved back to the other side of the boat. He stared at Sora for a long time in silence, as the lanterns slowly drifted away, twinkling from afar like stars, like distant worlds. 

Sora met his gaze unflinchingly. Things could be different, this time, outside of the heat of battle, away from the presence of others. 

Finally, Vanitas spoke, his voice quiet. “I want to stay here.”

“Okay.” Sora leaned back, stretching his legs out, and felt something poke into his thigh. He reached into his pocket and took out the paopu fruit he had meant to give to Rapunzel and Eugene. Instead, he held it out to Vanitas, who looked at it dubiously before carefully plucking it out of his grasp.

Holding it tightly in his hand, Vanitas took a bite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> havent seen tangled in a hot minute sorry if i got some stuff wrong


	8. In Which Sora Learns Lab Safety

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apparently sora is 15 during kh3 so in this fic hed be around 16/17

Sora lay back on his bed, breathing deeply. Last night he’d been up late shuttling all of his friends back to their own worlds in the Gummi ship. They had all been appreciative, and appropriately dazzled by the lantern display. Already they had plans to visit again for next year, and Sora had promised Rapunzel and Eugene he would see them again soon after remembering to deliver Rapunzel’s cake. 

Vanitas had left before their boat ever returned to shore. Sora had been disappointed, but not surprised. At least this time Vanitas had bothered to say goodbye, which was new and hopefully a good sign. Sora would have to make sure to bring some more paopu fruit for the next time he saw him – Vanitas had never said anything about it, but judging from how quickly he had devoured it he must have liked it. 

But now, Sora was exhausted. His late night meant staying awake today had been a struggle. He needed sleep, but there was something more important he needed to check on first, no matter how much he wanted to be putting it off. Sora knew from experience that darkness and negativity only tended to grow when left ignored and unchecked. He had to know what was happening in his heart, and whether or not he could safely handle it by himself. 

He frowned as he recalled Vanitas’s words from last night. He didn’t want to believe it, but he also didn’t think Vanitas had any reason to lie to him. Or at least, not _now_. If Vanitas just wanted to mess with him, then he probably wouldn’t have been asking Sora to kill him, or even agreeing to see the lanterns with him in the first place, something he obviously hadn’t been very comfortable with. 

But if he wasn’t lying about it, that meant… what? Sora had been corrupted, somehow? Had his brief estrangement from his friends permanently altered the state of his heart? But none of those seemed right, either. Sora could remember how he felt in those woods last night, and he recalled the distinct sensation that his emotions were not under his control. It was something he had felt before, when Roxas and Ventus were still inside his heart and had reacted to strong memories unearthed through Sora’s travels. If he were feeling someone else’s emotions… was it the mysterious third person, still trapped within his heart?

There were only a few ways to find out. Sora exhaled softly, closed his eyes, and relaxed his body. The faint sound of the waves lapping against the shore slowly increased in volume, and then abruptly became muted. Sora opened his eyes.

He was underwater. It was dark as far as he could see, but he strained his eyes and let his body drift downwards until a faint light became visible. He took a steadying breath, inhaling the dark water easily, as the pillars of his heart loomed into view. It didn’t look much different from afar. The mysterious heart still trapped within his remained invisible to him, nothing but his own heart laid out before him, shining in the dark. 

He touched down on its surface gently and glanced around. Nothing appeared to attack him, so that was probably a good sign. He walked around slowly, carefully inspecting every little inch laid out before him. He felt nothing out of the ordinary, only the usual peace and calm that accompanied a Dive to the Heart. 

No. There. Something wasn’t right. Sora stopped right on the edge of his heart, looking down. The edge was ringed in light blue, but here a small section was black and shaped a bit irregularly. Sora frowned and bent to inspect it. He rubbed it with his hand. It radiated a faint darkness, but Sora didn’t detect any outright malice or ill-will. Was it really just a part of his heart that had become corrupted? But it felt different, almost indescribably so. Sora couldn’t say with any certainty that it _wasn’t_ a part of his heart, but at the same time it didn’t quite feel like him. Something about it was just other.

“What are you?” Sora asked it.

It gave him no answer.

No closer to figuring anything out, Sora decided to leave before what he knew was actually his own darkness could appear and force a fight.

***

Sora went to Radiant Garden.

He debated the decision for an entire day. It was probably nothing, he was probably blowing this out of proportion, but Vanitas’s words had bothered him more than he cared to admit. He had a hard enough time trying to keep the darkness he already had under wraps. If he was creating more darkness within his heart, then it probably wasn’t something he would be able to handle on his own. And the guys at Radiant Garden seemed like they could keep a secret, if need be. Which is how Sora found himself sitting in a lab with Even and Ienzo, explaining his encounter with Vanitas and his own finds from examining his heart.

“I see.” Ienzo nodded thoughtfully as Sora concluded his tale. “And you think this may be the influence of someone else’s heart? And not your own?”

“I don’t know,” Sora admitted. “That night in Corona, I kept thinking that these feelings I were having weren’t mine. But now I’m not as sure. When I looked, I couldn’t see anything but my own heart.”

“I have a theory about this,” Even said. “But first, may we examine your heart for ourselves, Sora?”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess that’s fine.” Sora nodded apprehensively. 

“No need to worry,” Ienzo laughed. “It isn’t like having surgery or anything. It won’t take long.”

It really didn’t take long; Sora directed them where to look, and maybe twenty minutes later they were both satisfied. 

“This is fascinating,” Ienzo murmured. “I’m not sure what to make of it. Even, I would love to hear your theory.”

Even sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alright, Sora. Do you remember the last time you came here?”

“Huh?” Sora wracked his memory. “It was… to drop off those Unversed?”

“Correct,” Even nodded.

“How are they, by the way?” Sora asked, curious.

“Fine. I’ll tell you the details later. For now, concentrate,” Even chided. “Now, Sora, do you remember what else you did while you were here?”

“Uh…” Not really. “You had me go in that room with the Flood?”

“And then what happened afterward?”

This was starting to feel like some weird pop quiz. “We talked about it?”

“About what specifically?”

“I don’t really remember.” At Even’s withering glance that conjured up memories of failed chemistry tests and burning shame, Sora thought about it harder. “You had- something. A sample? A sample from the Flood. You let me look at it.”

Even nodded encouragingly. “Yes, I did. It was liquid taken from the Flood. I had told you that it was wet.”

“Right!” Sora brightened up as he remembered. “I asked you about it and you let me look. You gave a tube full of, uh, Flood fluid.”

“And what did you do with this fluid, Sora?” Even closed his eyes with a pained expression.

“I drank it!”

Ienzo gasped. “Oh Sora, you didn’t!”

“What?” Sora asked.

“Lab safety, Sora!” Ienzo cried. 

“Admittedly, I shouldn’t have let you even touch it,” Even said. “But I had touched it previously with no ill effects, so I suspected you would be fine. I truly didn’t expect you to _drink_ it.” He pinched the bridge of his nose again.

Sora pouted. Even _knew_ he was failing science. “What does this have to do with my heart?” he asked sullenly. 

“Yes, let’s get into that,” Even said faux-cheerfully, clapping his hands together. “Sora, what are the Unversed?”

“Manifestations of Vanitas’s negative emotions?” Sora recited dutifully.

“Correct! They come from Vanitas, they return to Vanitas. You understand this much, yes?” Even asked.

“Yes.” He wasn’t stupid. He wished Even would get to the point already.

“So if that’s the case, then the Unversed are, technically, what?”

Sora stared blankly. He’d already said what the Unversed were. What else was Even looking for?

Ienzo took pity on him as the silence stretched on. “It makes them a part of Vanitas. Most likely small fragments of his heart.” He wore the despairing look of a man who knew exactly where this conversation was going and could do nothing to stop it.

“Yes, thank you Ienzo. So, Sora, if the Unversed are a part of Vanitas, and you _drank_ part of an Unversed, what did you _actually_ drink a part of…?”

Sora urged the gears in his head to grind a little faster. “They’re a part of Vanitas… so, I… I…” His eyes widened as he abruptly realized why Ienzo was looking at him like that. “I _actually_ drank… I…”

“That’s right!” Even told him in that faux-cheerful voice. “You _literally consumed a fragment of Vanitas’s heart._ I had assumed, or I suppose hoped, that the amount you had drank would be too small to make any sort of difference, but it seems that is not the case.”

“Oh dear,” Ienzo murmured. “I think I can guess the rest of your theory, Even. You’re thinking that, once it was inside of Sora, the fragment tried to fuse?”

Even nodded. “It seems the most likely outcome.”

“What now?” Sora cried. 

“What Even thinks,” Ienzo explained, “is that, once inside of you, the small fragment of Vanitas you consumed did as Vanitas is wont to do and tried to fuse with your heart. And evidently, your heart did not deem it a threat and let it do just that.”

“S-So,” Sora forced out, “you think I fused with Vanitas?” And he’d gone and told Vanitas he wouldn’t do that.

Even sighed. “Only a very small piece of him. Although it apparently still has enough power to affect your emotions, which is troubling.” 

“Please refrain from consuming Unversed in the future, Sora,” Ienzo told him seriously.

“Did Vanitas not say anything to you?” Even asked. “I imagine he must have felt it.”

Sora thought back to what Vanitas had said. He’d claimed Sora felt weird, and darker. _A bit like me_ , he’d said. And he’d asked to fuse. But he didn’t seem to have actually known. “I think he’s used to missing parts of himself,” he answered, voice quiet. “I don’t think he knows.”

Even frowned. “I suppose he doesn’t seem very aware of what I’m doing to his Unversed, either.”

“Well, his heart is broken, isn’t it?” Ienzo said. “And it breaks itself even further to create the Unversed. Whatever sense of self he has must be horribly fractured. I imagine it might be too much to keep up with.”

That sounded awful. But none of this was a solution for Sora. “So wait, what about me? Can we get this fragment out?”

Ienzo shook his head. “I’m not sure that’s possible.”

Sora crossed his arms. “Why not?”

“It’s _fused_ with you, Sora,” Ienzo explained. “It isn’t like Ventus or Roxas, who remained separate from you. Trying to remove this fragment would mean trying to remove a piece of your own heart. There’s no way it wouldn’t hurt you.”

“I must agree with Ienzo,” Even said. “Removing it is too dangerous. From what you’ve described, you still have control over your own actions and are capable of recognizing when an emotion is not originating from you, so I believe it safe to allow the fragment to remain as is.”

“But tell us if anything changes,” Ienzo added. “We’ll need to keep an eye on this.”

“I’m really just stuck like this?” Sora asked, not bothering to hide his dismay.

“Perhaps this will teach you something about lab safety, Sora,” Even remarked dryly. 

Ienzo patted his shoulder awkwardly. “It’s alright. It could’ve been much worse. At least you are still in control of yourself.”

Ienzo’s words failed to reassure Sora in any way. “Great,” he sighed. 

“Oh, and since you asked about the Unversed,” Even said. “You should know that that fluid you drank is remarkably similar in composition to human tears. If a Flood represents a specific emotion, my assumption would be it is something akin to sadness or loneliness.”

Sora drank Vanitas’s tears and fused with him. Wonderful. This was not what Sora had had in mind when he had decided to try befriending Vanitas.

***

Looking at Ventus was still a bit difficult, but at least he knew why now. The feeling of not-quite-regret was almost fascinating. Sora had just assumed that whatever Vanitas felt towards Ventus would be something like rage or disgust, but instead a quiet melancholy settled over him as Sora sat in Ventus’s room and talked to the spiky blond.

Ventus didn’t seem to know what to make of Vanitas’s desire to fuse with Sora, or his apparent acceptance of Sora’s overtures of friendship. “It’s just weird that he would want to fuse with _you,_ ” he said for the third or fourth time. “He came from _me_. What does he get from fusing with you?”

“An easy way out?” Sora hazarded glumly. “He was in my heart before, I guess. Seemed like he just wanted to… stop existing, if he could.”

Ventus still seemed doubtful. “Is he suicidal? Then what’s the point in his constantly attacking me? And trying to fuse with me? Last time that happened, he took control. It wasn’t a way out.”

Sora shrugged. “It’s been a while since then, and nothing’s changed for him. And I guess he’s probably in constant pain? That can’t be fun.”

Ventus frowned and ran a hand through his hair. “I suppose he has less of a chance of beating me, now, too, since Master Xehanort’s gone and everything. Maybe I’m looking at this wrong. Maybe the better question is, why did he even _ask?_ He never asked me. He just did it.”

“Because we’re friends!” Sora hoped cheerfully. The word sent a small jab of pain through his heart, like being pricked with a needle.

Ventus furrowed his brows and sighed. “I still don’t think he’s really capable of having friends. And I’m still waiting for him to turn around and do something to really hurt you.”

“Hey, that’s no way to think,” Sora protested. “You can’t build a friendship thinking like that.”

Ventus laughed humorlessly and glanced out the window. “Probably a good thing I’m not the one befriending him, then. Honestly, I kinda hate even being near him, and knowing that he came from me…” He looked back at Sora. “I’ll keep supporting you, though. I don’t really want to feel this way about him.” He shook his head, and murmured as if to himself, “None of it was our fault.”

Sora pursed his lips as another needle pricked his heart and the melancholy pressed down on his shoulders a little stronger. “I’m not sure I get it, but thank you,” Sora told him. 

“Sure.” Ventus shot him a small smile. “So what’s the next step in your Plan, anyway?”

“Oh, I had a Gummiphone made for him,” Sora confided. “I’ll give it to him next time I see him. That’s better than just waiting for him to randomly show up, right?”

Ventus tensed. “My number’s not on there, right?”

“Oh, no. Just mine. And I have no idea if he’ll even want it. Or use it.”

Ventus relaxed. “Good. That’s probably a good idea, then. I’m pretty sure the only person he can track is me.”

“Can you track him, too?” Sora wondered.

Ventus grimaced. “Kind of. I can sense if he’s nearby. But my sense for him doesn’t stretch across worlds like his does for me.”

“Why is that?” Sora asked, tapping his chin thoughtfully. Vanitas did seem much more connected to Ventus than Ventus seemed connected to him. 

Ventus shrugged and fidgeted on his bed. “My heart’s in better shape than his, I guess.”

“What does that mean?” Sora pressed.

Ventus fidgeted some more. “My heart was broken, when Vanitas was ripped away. We were both halves of a whole. But then you fixed me, Sora. You made my heart whole again. I don’t need him anymore, I’m not missing anything. But no one ever fixed him. He’s still just half of a heart.”

“If I fixed you, then…”

Ventus laughed. “Could you fix him, too? I don’t know, but isn’t that what you’re trying to do?” He sobered up. “I wouldn’t tell Vanitas that, though. He wouldn’t want your pity.”

“It’s not pity.” At Ventus’s look, he corrected himself. “It’s not _just_ pity. He really isn’t that bad. If he could learn not to be so rude, he could probably make a lot more friends on his own.” 

“You think?” Ventus seemed genuinely curious. “What good qualities does he have? I always assumed none.”

“Um…” Sora thought about it. “Well, I guess he listens a lot more than I expected him to. He’s never like, interrupted me or told me to shut up or anything. And he’s pretty willing to answer questions as long as it doesn’t offend him.” Sora tried to dig a little deeper into the way Vanitas acted around him. “I guess he’s been worried about me a few times?”

“Worried about you? Really?” Ventus leaned forward.

Sora remembered his panic in the woods of Corona. Vanitas had been one the make him notice something was wrong and had – maybe? – attempted to talk him down. Before that, in the Keyblade Graveyard, he had expected Vanitas to kill him, but he hadn’t. He’d pinned Sora down and tried to talk to him until he’d become aware of himself again. Was that worry? It was at least something close to it, right? “Sure, I think,” he finally answered. “He’s helped me a few times when he didn’t have to.”

When Sora failed to elaborate, Ventus leaned back again. “Huh. Well, let me know if he does anything else that points to him being capable of basic decency? It… might help.”

Sora smiled at him. “Sure. You could try talking to him sometime, too.”

Ventus shook his head ruefully. “He doesn’t like to listen to me. Honestly, I don’t like listening to him either. But maybe someday.” 

“Maybe someday will be sooner than you think,” Sora suggested. 

“Yeah, maybe,” Ventus agreed.

***

Vanitas showed up a few days later, outside of his house, with Selphie.

Sora stopped in the open doorway. Blinked. Rubbed his eyes. They were both still there, standing just off of his front porch. “Huh?”

“Hi, Sora!” Selphie called cheerfully. “Vanitas asked me where you live.”

“…I wasn’t sure how else to find you,” Vanitas admitted. His helmet was open, and his eyes were wandering over Sora’s house and avoiding Sora himself. “I want more of those fruit things.”

Sora stepped outside and over to meet them. “Paopu? Sure, they’re not hard to find here. I can take you to the tree.”

Vanitas nodded and said nothing.

“Oookay, so, is that all you needed…?” Selphie asked, looking at Vanitas.

He glanced at her briefly. “Yeah.”

She put her hands on her hips. “You could at least say ‘thank you!’” 

Vanitas grimaced and remained stubbornly silent. 

“Really?” Selphie demanded. 

“Er…” Sora cut in by holding out a Gummiphone to Vanitas. He’d taken to carrying it around, not sure when he would see Vanitas again. “Here, this is for you.”

Vanitas glanced at it suspiciously. “What is it?”

“It’s a phone,” Sora explained. “You can use it to talk to people. My number’s on there, so you can call me or text me whenever you want.”

“Call? Text?” Sora’s explanation hadn’t seemed to do much for Vanitas. He looked even more wary. 

“Oh, you can have my number too!” Selphie squealed, snatching the phone away from Sora and fiddling around with it. 

“Number?” Vanitas turned the brunt of his confusion to Selphie. 

And thus, the next twenty minutes were spent sitting around on Sora’s front porch, teaching Vanitas how to use a phone. Sora’s extremely limited knowledge about the inner workings of his phone was quickly made apparent, and Selphie exasperatedly took over explaining, figuring out the special Gummiphone features much faster than Sora ever had. Sora watched helplessly from the side as Selphie walked Vanitas through calling, texting, adding numbers, downloading apps, and setting up video chats. Vanitas was a surprisingly attentive student, and didn’t seem to have any problems asking questions about things he didn’t understand. He also didn’t seem to be any better off than Sora when it came to technology. 

“I can only call people if I have their ‘number,’” Vanitas half-asked, half-stated.

“Right!” Selphie nodded encouragingly. “You have two numbers, currently.”

“Everyone has a number?”

“Everyone who has a phone,” Selphie confirmed. 

“You talk to your friends with these things?” Vanitas asked Sora.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. We all have phones,” Sora answered. 

Vanitas studied his Gummiphone thoughtfully. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll keep this thing.”

“You will?” Sora straightened in his street, grinning. “Great! Then we can talk anytime!”

“Anytime…”

“Okay, but there is some common courtesy,” Selphie cut in. “Like, it’s rude to call late at night unless it’s an emergency. Texting at any time is fine, but you can’t always expect an immediate reply, because sometimes people are busy.”

“Courtesy,” Vanitas scoffed. “I’ll call whenever I like.”

“Ugh, fine.” Selphie rolled her eyes. “But don’t expect _me_ to pick up in the middle of the night. Don’t think I won’t block you.”

Vanitas glowered at her.

Sora cleared his throat. “So… if you have a good idea of how to use a phone now, did you want to go get some paopu fruit?”

“Oh. Yes.” Vanitas stood and did… something with his phone. Sora watched in utter bafflement as the Gummiphone seemingly vanished in a burst of black flame.

“I should head off, then,” Selphie said, springing to her feet. “You two… have fun?” She gave a little wave before setting off, presumably back to her house.

Sora stood as well and began the trek to the docks, then rowed the boat out to the smaller island. When he pointed out the paopu tree to Vanitas, the other boy immediately began to pick as many fruits off of it as he could.

“Hey! Leave some for other people, too!” Sora protested.

Vanitas scowled but stopped after he had gathered a good armful. He leaned against the tree and started to eat, watching Sora.

“Er…” Being stared at like that was kind of unnerving. “Is there anything else you wanted to do?”

Vanitas shook his head.

“Okay…” Well, this was pretty awkward. “Then can I ask you some stuff?”

“Could I stop you?” Vanitas wondered.

“What do you do for fun?” Sora asked.

Vanitas started in on his second fruit. “I bother Ventus.”

“Oh.” So he really did enjoy tormenting Ventus. Sora decided not to share that knowledge with the boy in question. “Wait, is that it?”

Vanitas eyed him curiously. “What do _you_ do?”

Sora blinked. Vanitas had never seemed to care about his personal life, before. Or he was just avoiding the question. “Um, lots of stuff. I’ve told you some of it before, right? I like making things and cooking. And hanging out with my friends.”

“Oh, yeah.” Vanitas moved on to a third fruit. “What do you do with your friends?”

Sora shrugged. “Talk. About anything. Play games, watch movies, visit cool places.” 

“Like that lantern place?”

Sora nodded. “Yeah, stuff like that. Not all the time, though. Usually I’ll just invite people over here to hang out.”

Vanitas didn’t seem to have anything to say to that.

Sora decided to just go for it and blurt out the question on his mind. “Are we friends?” The word pricked him uncomfortably.

Vanitas finished the third paopu and bit into a fourth. 

Sora squirmed and scuffed the sand with his foot.

After he finished his fourth fruit, Vanitas sighed and vanished the rest the same way he had his phone. “I don’t know. I don’t know what being friends means.” 

“It’s like… If you’re friends with someone, then you like talking to them and spending time with them,” Sora tried to explain. Vanitas had to have _some_ concept of what friendship was, or the word wouldn’t hurt him so much. But if he’d never had friends of his own before, maybe it was hard to understand.

“I still don’t know.” Vanitas fixed his gaze on the ocean rather than Sora.

Sora sighed. Yeah, okay. Maybe it was still too soon to be asking that. “Then, can you just tell me what else you like to do besides bother Ventus?”

Vanitas scowled, eyes still watching the waves. “I don’t know. Nothing.”

“You don’t do anything?” He had to spend his days doing something. “What do you do when you’re by yourself?”

“I train. On Unversed, Heartless, whatever. I collect energy from other worlds.”

“That’s it?”

“What else is there? I don’t need anything else.”

“But that’s- don’t you get bored?” That couldn’t be all he did.

Vanitas shrugged.

“There’s really nothing else you like?” Sora pressed. What was he supposed to do with someone who never did anything?

“…I like those fruits,” Vanitas offered. “I liked that thing Selphie did, at her house. The movie.” 

“…Okay.” Sora supposed the best way to connect with someone who had no hobbies would be to just give them a hobby. “I have some movies, too. We can watch them, if you want.” He considered Vanitas for a moment. “You’d probably like horror movies. I don’t have many of those. I’ll have to ask Kairi if I can borrow some.” Sora hated watching horror movies, but sometimes sacrifices had to be made. He was positive Vanitas would enjoy them, at least. 

Vanitas didn’t seem to really understand what he was talking about, but he nodded anyway. He summoned a paopu fruit in a flash of fire.

“Okay, what is that?” Sora cried. “How do you keep making things disappear and reappear?”

“What? I’m just storing stuff. How do you store things?” Vanitas looked at him, confused.

“In my pockets?” Sora held open a pocket on his pants. Vanitas moved a bit closer and peered into it.

“Seems inconvenient,” he decided. “My way’s faster. And can fit more stuff.” He banished the paopu again as if to prove it.

“But where is it going?”

“Away? Into the dark somewhere. Does it matter? Nothing happens to it there.”

“It’s weird,” Sora said. “Do you even have pockets?”

“No. I don’t need them, obviously,” he sneered.

“What’s with your outfit anyway?” Sora took a minute to really look at it. “It’s super weird. I mean, I get that it’s armor, but what’s this thing for?” Sora tugged on the half skirt-thing Vanitas wore.

Vanitas scowled and smacked his hand away. “Don’t touch me. It’s not weird.”

“Yeah it is!” Sora insisted. “Riku wore something like this for a while, and it was weird on him too. Do you have any other clothes?”

“What, like yours?” Vanitas snorted derisively as he looked Sora up and down. “Is _that_ supposed to protect you in battle?”

Sora glanced at his T-shirt and shorts. He had taken to dressing more casually, now that he was done running about saving the worlds. “Well, no? This isn’t for battle. It’s for comfort.”

“Comfort,” Vanitas repeated incredulously. 

“Yeah, it’s comfortable. More so than the stuff I wear for battle.” Sora frowned thoughtfully at Vanitas. “Hey, you should try wearing something else, too.”

Vanitas crossed his arms. “No.”

“Aw, come on!” Sora protested. “It doesn’t have to be about comfort. Some people prefer clothes for their looks. You might look cooler in something else,” he tried. 

“I don’t care what I look like.”

That was probably true. He didn’t seem the type to care about appearances. He hardly even seemed bothered about sharing a face with Sora. “Fine,” Sora sighed, even as he began secretly plotting how he might get Vanitas to try wearing something else. Something with pockets.

“Okay, I’m leaving,” Vanitas declared after a short silence. 

“Huh? Already?” They’d barely talked about anything. 

“It’s too bright out here,” Vanitas complained. “And why do you care? You can ‘text’ me now.”

Would he actually check his texts? Sora had doubts. “It’s not the same as face-to-face conversation.”

Vanitas snorted. “Come up with more interesting things to say, then.” He opened up a Corridor of Darkness. “But you’ll probably see me again.” He stepped through and vanished.

Sora pouted to himself for a while. He wished Vanitas would stop disappearing in the middle of conversations. It was simultaneously rude and an unfair advantage. Still, at least he had some way of contacting him now. And Vanitas had just implied he would visit Sora again, right? Like he had today. Sora would have to make sure to have some movies ready for next time. Maybe video games, too, Vanitas might like those. And different kinds of foods, or Vanitas would probably end up eating through the island’s entire stock of paopu. The more Sora planned it out, the more it started to just sound like a sleepover.

He grinned. They were totally friends now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _sora quit voring the unversed_
> 
> can vanitas swim? probably not


	9. In Which Kairi is a Personal Stylist

“Okay,” Kairi admitted, sitting on her bed with her chin in her hand, “maybe the helmet really doesn’t mean much. It’s not metaphorical armor. He just lacks basic knowledge on how to interact with people and didn’t know or didn’t care that hiding your face is kinda rude.”

“Ha!” Riku crowed from beside her. “I told you!”

Kairi glowered at him and shoved his shoulder. “Yeah, laugh it up.”

“I will, thanks. But why the sudden change of heart? I don’t think your theory has necessarily been entirely disproven.” Riku leaned back in the bed until he was slumping against the wall. 

“I was expecting some kind of, like, slow opening up where Sora very gradually started seeing his face more and more,” Kairi explained. “But for the last like, three encounters he just hasn’t bothered with the helmet.”

“He’s still wearing it,” Sora piped up from the pile of pillows on the floor. “He’s just keeping it open. It’s still weird to talk to my own face like that, but it’s nice to be able to see his expressions.”

Riku shrugged languidly. “Maybe his walls are just a lot thinner than we thought and the gradual opening up was a very quick opening up instead. Or Sora is just that powerful.”

“What, so you’re saying I was right but my timeline was off?” Kairi threw her hands up. “Now you’re on board with my theory?” 

“I don’t think he cares much about what others know or think about him,” Sora offered. “I mean, there isn’t much point in trying to hide when the Unversed will just show everyone how he’s feeling anyway, right?” 

Riku grimaced. “It’s kind of awful to not even have the option to conceal your feelings.”

“Although we don’t know much about the Unversed,” Kairi pointed out. “All we have to go off of so far is that Floods are probably sadness.” 

“He makes a lot of those, doesn’t he,” Riku observed. “That’s most of what we fight, anyway.”

“Hey, you think there could be Unversed for positive emotions?” Sora wondered. 

“I don’t know,” Riku mused. “Can he feel those?”

“Of course he can.” Kairi rolled her eyes and shoved at Riku’s shoulder again. “He’s not a Heartless.” 

“I’m joking, I’m joking,” Riku laughed. “I’m just trying to picture happy Unversed and it’s not working. What would those even look like?”

“Maybe like the Dream Eaters?” Sora imagined a fat, fluffy Meow Wow with an Unversed symbol. “Yeah, I bet they'd be cute.”

“Dream Eaters, huh.” Riku sighed wistfully. “I miss my Dream Eaters. Hope they’re doing okay without me.”

“I haven’t had any nightmares lately, so I think they’re fine,” Sora offered.

“Oh!” Kairi suddenly clapped her hands together as if remembering something. “Sora, did Vanitas ever text you back?”

Sora pulled out his Gummiphone and stared glumly at the notification-less screen. “Nope. It’s been two days. I’m not sure he’s even read my texts.”

“Oh,” Kairi deflated. “Well, maybe he just forgot about it.”

“Yeah,” Sora sighed. That was better than the alternative of being ignored. 

“Sounds like something you’d do, Sora,” Riku remarked. “If you had some weird hammer-space storage, you’d totally forget about anything you put in it.”

“He doesn’t _do_ anything though,” Sora whined. “He said so himself. He shouldn’t be able to just forget like that.” 

“Maybe there’s no service in the weird hammer-space storage?” Kairi suggested. 

Sora opened up the text he’d sent Vanitas and read it over again.

_hey just letting u no i got some movies we can watch :) come visit whenever just txt me 1st_

Maybe he’d said the wrong thing. Maybe the _way_ he said it was wrong. Maybe Vanitas was offended by text speech. Or maybe he just didn’t understand it. Sora groaned and tossed his phone aside. He supposed the most he could do was wait.

***

The wait was over later that week, in the middle of Sora, Riku, and Kairi’s weekly study session. They were all huddled on the floor around a table in Sora’s living room, painstakingly pouring over their trigonometry textbooks.

“Uuuuugh I don’t understaaaaaand,” Sora groaned in the most over-dramatic way he could manage, slumping down to the floor.

“Me either,” Kairi agreed, thumping her forehead down onto the table.

“Will you guys get it together?” Riku asked, tapping his pencil against his textbook impatiently. “This really isn’t that hard. And it’s only ten questions.”

“That’s ten too many,” Sora complained. 

Riku looked to the ceiling as if hoping to find a hidden supply of patience taped there. “Okay. Let’s try this problem again. C’mon, let’s just get halfway through this and then we can take a break, okay?” 

“Fine,” Sora huffed and sat up straight. He was reaching for his pencil when a movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.

Vanitas strolled casually into Sora’s living room as if he lived there. As his golden eyes swept over three of them sitting at the table, he sneered. “Oh. Your _friends_ are here.” 

“Vanitas!” Sora exclaimed. “Can you do my math homework for me?”

“Your what?” Vanitas asked.

“Sora, no!” Riku reached out and lightly smacked Sora on the back of the head. “And the better question is, how did you get in here?” He directed his question to Vanitas.

Vanitas stared at him, clearly unimpressed. “The door?”

Riku turned his disappointed gaze back to Sora. “Sora, you told me you were remembering to lock the door now.” 

“Uh...oops?” He thought he had locked the door. But maybe that had been yesterday? At least his parents weren’t home.

“An even better question is, why have you been ignoring Sora?” Kairi pointed an accusatory finger at Vanitas.

Vanitas glowered. “None of your business, _princess._ I haven’t been, anyway.” He crossed his arms.

“You haven’t answered my text, though,” Sora pointed out, pouting. He crossed his arms as well, mirroring Vanitas’s posture.

“Text?” Vanitas’s eyes widened. “Oh.” He summoned his Gummiphone in a flash of fire. 

“You forgot!” Sora accused. “How could you forget?” 

Vanitas scowled and stared at his phone. “What does this even say?” 

“Huh? Just to text me before you visit. Which you didn’t,” Sora grumbled. 

“What is this here? Is that a word?” Vanitas very helpfully pointed at his phone screen that was facing him and nowhere near Sora.

Kairi stood up and peered over at the phone. “Oh, that’s a smiley face. If you turn it on its side, it looks like two eyes and a mouth.”

Vanitas glared and edged away from her, then tilted his head at his phone screen. “Oh. I see it. Why is there a number?” 

“First? It just says first. You can spell that with numbers...” Sora said. Okay, so text speech was a problem. He really hated having to type properly, though. It just felt too formal and stilted. 

“Vanitas, do you read much?” Riku asked, voice casual. 

Vanitas glanced at him with suspicion. “Why are you asking?”

Riku shrugged. “Just curious.” 

“Well, don’t be,” Vanitas snapped.

“Okay, okay,” Riku agreed easily.

“Anyway, if you’re here I don’t need to finish my homework!” Sora bounced to his feet. “Let’s go do something!”

“ _No,_ sit back down, Sora,” Riku said. “This is due tomorrow.”

“Oh, come on, Riku, he can do it later,” Kairi tried valiantly on Sora’s behalf.

Riku wouldn’t have it. “Nope. Sit down, all of you.”

Sora plopped back down with a sigh. Kairi neatly rearranged herself back beside him. Everyone looked at Vanitas expectantly, and after a brief pause he sat down across from Sora. Sora beamed at him, and he dropped his gaze to the table.

“You any good at math, Vanitas?” Riku asked.

“What’s math?” Vanitas asked, studying a stray paper in front of him.

“ _What’s math?_ ” Riku cried, reeling back as if struck.

“I wish that were me,” Kairi sighed wistfully. 

“It’s like, numbers and stuff,” Sora explained. 

“Oh, right.” Vanitas nodded. “I did know that. Yeah, numbers are fine.” 

“Okay...” Riku still seemed somewhat in shock. “Well... Follow along if you can, I guess.” 

“Fine” turned out to be a bit of an understatement, since Vanitas managed to reach a basic understanding of trigonometry far more quickly than Sora ever had (at least, after he learned how to use a calculator). Sora checked out of the conversation pretty quickly, and instead marveled at the fact that Vanitas had joined their study group and was really doing Sora’s homework for him. Riku was so delighted to finally have a student who seemed to actually care about the subject that he didn’t notice Sora and Kairi were only watching from the sidelines, or that Sora had surreptitiously slid Vanitas his paper. 

“This is weird,” Kairi whispered.

“Yeah,” Sora whispered back. “But at least I don’t have to do my own trig.”

“Can I copy yours later?” Kairi asked.

“Sure.” 

“I’m surprised he stuck around,” Kairi continued. “He doesn’t seem to like me much.”

“It’s your light, I think,” Sora whispered. “You have too much. That kind of thing seems to offend him.” 

“What about you? You’re also a guardian of light,” Kairi pointed out.

“Yeah, but I’m not a princess of heart or anything. I’ve got _some_ darkness.” Darkness Vanitas had seen firsthand.

“I guess.” Kairi frowned thoughtfully. “Hey, you think he’s ever been to school?”

Sora shook his head. “No.” Vanitas wasn’t an idiot, but he had way too many basic knowledge gaps. 

“Then where did he pick up math? Or reading? You don’t think Xehanort would’ve taught him, do you?” 

Sora considered that. He didn’t know as much about Xehanort as, say, Ventus or Terra did, but from what he had picked up Xehanort didn’t seem the type to care about conventionally educating his pawns. “Probably not? Maybe he’s self-taught.” 

“Hmm,” Kairi hummed in consideration. “That’s pretty impressive, then.”

Unfortunately, the strange trig-induced quasi-peace didn’t last forever. Vanitas grew bored with only two questions left to go (two! now Sora would have to do some trig after all) and decided going through everything in Sora’s house would be a better use of his time. When it quickly became apparent that there was no real way to stop him without provoking a fight, Sora settled on trying to distract him instead. 

“Er, hey, Vanitas? I’ve got an idea for something we could do,” Sora tried.

Vanitas glanced up from the kitchen drawer he was rifling through. He’d already been through the fridge and found the paopu fruit, and was steadily eating his way through them. “What? It doesn’t involve your friends, does it?”

“Uh, I guess it doesn’t have to.” He shot an apologetic glance at Riku and Kairi, who were both currently trying to fix the mess Vanitas had made of the living room. “I was thinking we should go get you something with pockets.”

Vanitas snorted derisively. “I’ve already told you I’m not interested in your clothes. My armor is all I need.”

“Yeah, but... If your phone is in your pocket, you’ll know as soon as I send you something. And you’ll be less likely to forget about it.”

“I didn’t forget,” Vanitas muttered defensively. 

“And I kinda wanna see you in something else anyway?” Sora gave his best puppy-dog look. “Please?” 

“What? Why?” Vanitas paused in his movements and gave Sora a startled look. 

The tiny fragment lodged in Sora’s heart squeezed slightly. _Interesting._ “‘Cause your outfit’s weird. You’d probably look better in regular clothes.” He rested his arms on the kitchen counter and looked at Vanitas thoughtfully. “You don’t have to change if you don’t want to, though. But you can at least get a jacket or something.” 

“A jacket.” Vanitas scrunched his face up as he appeared to consider that. “Jackets aren’t... awful.”

Was that a yes? “Uh, okay then, let’s go clothes shopping?” And stop messing things up and eating all the paopu?

“Clothes shopping?” Kairi called. “Don’t go with Sora! He has zero fashion sense. If you want to look any good, take someone who knows what they’re doing.”

“Well, that’s not me,” Riku declared, stopping in the entryway to the kitchen.

Sora kindly refrained from mentioning that Riku’s fashion sense from two years ago was probably exactly the kind of look Vanitas would like.

Kairi bounced into the kitchen behind Riku, sliding on her socks up to the counter. “Oh, please let me come! I bet I could pick out something great for you, Vanitas.” 

Vanitas scowled at her. “I don’t need your help, princess.” 

“My name’s Kairi!” She pounded the counter with a fist indignantly. “And what makes you think I’m doing this for you? Dressing someone else well is good for my ego.” 

“Whoa.” Sora looked at Kairi in surprise. He’d never heard her talk like that before.

Vanitas was watching her as well. “Really. And why should _I_ help _you?_ ”

“Because,” Kairi said, “anyone who wants to be friends with Sora needs to win our approval, too. And it’s not like you don’t benefit, either. You get to look good. And I’m assuming we’ll be paying for everything.” 

Vanitas stared at her for a long moment. “Fine,” he spat. “Kairi.” 

“Yes!” Kairi’s angry demeanor instantly melted back into her usual happy smile. “Oh, Riku has to come too. Can’t just leave him out.” 

“Thanks,” Riku deadpanned.

“Well, it’s true.” Kairi said, looking away. 

“Whatever,” Vanitas agreed with a sigh. 

“Okay...” Sora said. “So we’re all going. Cool.” He wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened, but it was probably good, right? It was good for Vanitas to willingly(?) spend time with other people. 

And thus the four of them found themselves in Destiny Islands’ main department store, because even with all their munny combined they didn’t have enough to buy an entire wardrobe from a name brand store. (Kairi insisted Vanitas get a full range of proper clothes, despite whatever the boy in question had to say on the matter.) Kairi blew through the various clothing racks like some sort of avenging angel, pulling off various different pieces and throwing them to Riku or Sora to hold. Vanitas refused to help in any way, but he did seem to have fun moving the clothing racks out of order and making rude, vaguely threatening gestures at the people who stopped to stare at him. Sora tried to keep his face hidden behind the mound of clothing in his arms, hoping no one would question his suddenly having a twin. Once Sora and Riku were both weighed down by what felt like at least half the entire clothing section, Kairi declared they had enough for “a good start” and dragged them off to the dressing rooms. 

“Okay,” Kairi instructed. “So you need to go into the stall and try on what I give you. I’ll arrange all the pieces into outfits for you, so don’t worry about that part. Just put on whatever I hand you and then come out and let us see it, okay?”

Vanitas eyed the two mountains of clothes warily. “…Fine.”

“Hang on,” Riku interjected, staring fixedly at the wall. “I’m sorry, but… do you wear underwear, Vanitas?”

“Underwear?” Vanitas answered in the worst possible way.

“Gross!” Riku declared. “Kairi, please fix this.”

“Oh, no.” Kairi flushed bright red. “Okay, everyone stay here, I’ll be back.” She ran off.

“You… bathe, right?” Riku asked.

“Bathe? Like, washing? Yeah,” Vanitas replied.

Riku visibly relaxed. “Oh, good.”

Kairi returned in short order clutching a pack of underwear. She shoved it at Vanitas. “Okay, put one of these on _first._ And keep it on.” She turned to Sora and Riku and rifled through their clothes piles, pulling out two pieces which she also shoved at Vanitas. “Try this first. Remember to come back out and show us. And tell me if it doesn’t fit. You’re probably the same size as Sora, but your shoulders are a bit wider…”

“Bossy,” Vanitas commented. He didn’t seem to mind, though, and he went into the changing room without much fuss. 

The waited outside for a quite a while. “…Does he understand how clothes work?” Sora asked quietly.

“Probably not,” Riku guessed. “I wore something like what he’s got for a while. It isn’t actual clothing, just armor made out of pure darkness, mostly. You don’t have to put it on, you can just kinda… summon it. And it’ll go right over whatever you’re already wearing.”

“I don’t think he’s wearing anything under there,” Sora said. 

“If he doesn’t even know what underwear is, I’d guess not,” Riku agreed. He sighed. “He’s like one of those feral children from the woods. You remember that feral kids documentary we had to watch in psychology?”

“Neither of us has had psychology,” Kairi reminded him.

“Oh, right.”

Vanitas came back out before they could continue the conversation. He was wearing a pair of dark skinny jeans and a gray checkered shirt that seemed to stretch a little too tight over his chest and shoulders. His helmet was absent, leaving his face completely exposed. Without the weird darkness suit, he was barefoot.

“Wow,” Sora said, running over to poke Vanitas’s shoulder and ignoring his flinch back. “How come you’re so built?” He pouted as he looked down at his own chest. Where was _his_ muscle? He spent years fighting, didn’t he? Was swinging a keyblade around not enough?

“Damn, you look even more like Sora dressed casually like that,” Riku remarked. “Except, yeah, weirdly muscular.”

“Hmm,” Kairi hummed thoughtfully. “We might have to go up a shirt size. But otherwise, what do you think?”

“It feels okay.” Vanitas looked down at himself. “But this will not protect me in battle. I think these things would restrict my movement.” He tugged on the skinny jeans. 

“You don’t like skinny jeans? They look good on you, though,” Kairi said.

“Battle isn’t the point,” Sora reminded him. “You can go back to your armor in battle. This is just for everyday stuff.”

“Then I suppose it’s… adequate,” Vanitas declared. 

“Wonderful!” Kairi clapped her hands together. “Then we’ll add these to the buy pile! After swapping out for a bigger shirt, of course.”

They spent what must have been at least two hours waiting around outside the dressing rooms, with Kairi running around periodically to swap sizes and inevitably bringing back other pieces that had caught her eye on the way. She had picked out mostly dark colors, with the occasional splash of dark red or gold. They were all either plain or featured very simple patterns. T-shirts and jeans were the most common, with a few jackets and cardigans and, on one memorable occasion, a dress.

“I don’t like this,” Vanitas had declared upon stepping out in a plain gray dress. It fell just above his knees, with half-sleeves down to the elbow and a row of small black buttons going up the chest and to the collar. “I’m too exposed.”

“What?” Sora squawked, his face flushing red. “Kairi, why is he in a dress?”

Kairi laughed in delight. “Oh, I wasn’t sure if you’d actually wear it! You look good, though. And it has pockets, which is technically our only requirement here.”

“Kairi, he’s not your doll,” Riku choked out, staring at Vanitas wide-eyed. 

Vanitas looked between Sora and Riku suspiciously. “What? What is it?”

“Guys don’t wear dresses!” Sora exclaimed.

Vanitas frowned and looked down at the dress. “Why not?”

“It’s for girls. It’s weird for guys to wear it,” Sora said.

“Why? Actually, why does anyone wear these? You can’t fight in this,” Vanitas said.

“Ease of movement?” Kairi suggested.

“Hmm.” Vanitas stretched the hem out in front of him. “Wouldn’t this get caught on things, though? That would just hinder your mobility.”

“Oh, I guess it would.” Kairi sighed. “Well, you don’t have to keep it.”

Vanitas did end up keeping most of the clothes Kairi had picked out, something that had her radiating in smug pride. When Vanitas inevitably tired of trying things on, they moved on to the shoe section. They quickly settled on a pair of black combat boots, and Riku gave a fifteen-minute crash course in lacing and tying shoes. Then he gave another crash course on how to clean clothes (which boiled down to “just use Sora’s washing machine, I guess”) in the check-out line while Sora and Kairi watched all the prices add up in dismay. By the time they were leaving the store, Vanitas was dressed casually and looked like a normal person. And his phone was in his pocket, where he would actually notice if someone texted him.

Sora half expected him to bail and leave, but he followed them back to Sora’s house. And then out of Sora’s house and to Riku’s when they realized Sora’s parents had returned. Unfortunately, this ended up meaning Vanitas was now going through Riku’s things, because he had no manners and seemed to take pride in this fact.

“Will you stop it!” Riku shouted as he swiped a textbook out of Vanitas’s hands and forcefully shut the desk drawer he had been rummaging through. “You can’t just mess with other people’s things like that!”

Vanitas smirked lazily and snatched the book back easily. “Oh yeah? What am I doing, then?”

Sora quickly slid between them. Cut off line of sight and aggression would go down. Right? He’d read that somewhere. “Vanitas, please just leave his stuff alone.”

“Why should I? I’m stronger than all of you. I have a right to whatever I want,” Vanitas said, casually tossing the book aside.

“Oh, you think you’re stronger than me, huh?” Riku challenged. 

“Hey, whoa, stop,” Sora pleaded. “And Vanitas, that isn’t how it works.”

“Yes it is,” Vanitas insisted. “The strong can take what they want from the weak. That’s always how it works. If by some miracle you ever managed to beat me, you’d have a right to my stuff, too.”

“Maybe it _can_ work that way, but that doesn’t mean it _should,_ ” Kairi cut in, planting herself in Vanitas’s line of sight. “If we all agree to respect each other’s property, then no one will ever have to worry about losing their stuff.”

“I’ll never have to worry either way, because none of you will ever beat me,” Vanitas replied flippantly. 

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Riku warned, his glare sharp enough to cut.

“Can you just leave Riku’s stuff alone anyway? Please?” Sora begged. “People won’t want to be friends with you if you’re rude to them.”

“Maybe I don’t want to be Riku’s friend,” Vanitas retorted.

“And here I thought we had something special,” Riku said sarcastically.

“If you want to be _Sora’s_ friend, then you should try being nice to his friends in turn,” Kairi sniffed. “People also won’t want to be friends with you if you’re rude to their friends.”

The fragment in Sora’s heart gave a little twinge that seemed half hurt and half resentment. When he was sure his next words would be his, Sora said, “I don’t mind you looking through my things, just please leave Riku’s alone. He doesn’t like it.”

“How noble of you,” Vanitas sneered. “Fine, if it means so much to you. None of the things here are interesting, anyway.”

“Oh, so now my stuff’s not good enough for you?” Riku said.

“Riku,” Kairi sighed. 

Riku crossed his arms. “I’ll drop it. But watch yourself, Vanitas.”

Vanitas smiled at him. “Are you threatening me?” The possibility seemed to delight him.

“Hey, no fighting!” Sora exclaimed. 

Vanitas’s gaze slid to Sora, and his smile dropped. “Whatever. I’m out of here, then.” He vanished into the darkness without another word.

“…Wow,” Kairi said.

Riku collapsed back onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling. “Today was interesting,” he agreed.

“I’m sorry about that,” Sora said, shifting uncomfortably on his feet.

Riku snorted. “It’s not _your_ fault. And I’m glad you were here. He does listen to you, kind of.”

Kairi joined Riku on the bed, stretching herself out in a starfish shape. “I see what you mean now, Sora. He fluctuates pretty wildly between ‘fairly decent’ and ‘insufferable asshole.’”

“Yup,” Riku agreed. “He seems to like learning new things, but then gets pissed off when you try telling him what to do outside of that context.”

Sora joined the bed pile, laying in the small clear patch beside Riku. “Oh, I hadn’t noticed that.”

“I think he just likes annoying people,” Kairi said. “And when it’s not directed at you, it’s more manageable.”

“Maybe he’s trying to feed off of our annoyance,” Riku offered.

“Oh, gross, I forgot he eats emotions.” Kairi wrinkled her nose in disgust. “I don’t want him feeding off me. He should at least ask first.”

Riku gave a small snort of laughter. “Yeah, give him the consent talk, Kairi.”

“Wonder if I’ll see him again,” Sora sighed.

“Sure you will,” Kairi said. “You always see him again.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Sora agreed.

The silence stretched on between the three of them as they laid there, each thinking their own thoughts. Sora considered how he should go about contacting Vanitas again. Should he wait a few days?

“…Hey, Sora?” Riku asked.

“What?”

“Did you ever finish your trig?” Riku moved his head to look at him.

“Um… yes?” Sora tried.

“Oh, really.” Riku’s eyes narrowed.

Kairi burst into giggles. 

Riku turned to look at her. “And what about you, huh?”

Her giggling quickly petered out. “Oops?”

Riku sat up. “Alright, back to Sora’s. C’mon, guys.”

“Aw…” Sora and Kairi whined in unison as they slowly stood up and trudged back to their trig homework, dragging their feet the whole time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> vanitas didnt so much "forget" about his phone as "assume sora wouldnt actually want to talk to him so soon"
> 
> school is kicking my ass rn updates are probably going to slow down as i struggle to balance midterms and all the stuff i need to do in order to study abroad next semester


	10. In Which Cloud Spills Government Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to everyone who comments btw, i love reading yalls thoughts even if its only tangentially related

“Okay, so, let me get this straight,” Leon said with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You want me to train some of your friends to use a gunblade... so they can play volleyball?”

“Yup!” Sora nodded enthusiastically. “So, will you do it?” He folded his arms behind his head and gave Leon his best winning smile. 

Leon stared at him. His eye twitched slightly.

Yuffie cackled from her perch on the windowsill. “Oh, Leon, say yes. You have to say yes, come on, please. That’s the best thing Sora’s ever said.” 

“Keyblade Volleyball? That sounds like fun,” Aerith offered, looking up from her flower arrangement that was slowly swallowing Leon’s dining table. “Can I play too?”

“Of course!” Sora agreed. “You can all play!” 

“And gunblades are necessary because...?” Leon asked.

“‘Cause they’re cool!” Sora mimed swinging and shooting a gunblade. “And it’s not like we can give everyone keyblades.” 

“How many people do you want me to train, exactly?” Leon rubbed his forehead. 

“Um...” Sora tried to count them all up in his head. “Only a few? I think? I haven’t worked out the full list yet.” Or even directly asked anyone if they wanted a gunblade, but that was the next step. And really, who would say no to gunblade training? 

“Come on, Leon,” Yuffie wheedled. 

“Could I play, too?” Cloud piped up from his chair in the corner, quietly. “My sword wouldn’t be too big...?”

“Nope, of course not!” Sora reassured him. “We’re still working on the rules, but we’ll be taking everyone’s weapons into account. Your sword is fine!”

“Seriously? Even you want to play this, Cloud?” Leon asked, staring at him incredulously. 

Cloud shrugged slightly. “It sounds like fun,” he mumbled.

“Fine.” Leon threw his hands up in defeat. “I’ll teach your friends how to use a gunblade so we can all play volleyball together.”

“Yes!” Sora cheered. “Thanks Leon, you’re the best!”

“Whoo-hoo!” Yuffie whooped. “Way to go, Leon!”

“We’ll have to work out some kind of schedule. I do have other things to do,” Leon said.

“Yeah, that’s fine! I’ll get together with everyone who needs training and we can work something out,” Sora promised. 

“Alright,” Leon sighed. “Just keep in touch, I suppose.”

“Thanks so much! I’ll leave you guys to it, then.” Sora made for the front door.

“Oh, Sora?” Aerith called, standing up from her seat at the table. “If you don’t have anything else planned, do you think you could help me out in the garden? I’m going to be doing some planting today. Cloud said he’d help, but no one else is available and there’s a lot of work for just two people... So, if you’re not too busy...”

“Oh, sure!” Sora agreed, turning back with a smile. “I’d love to help! I’m not busy.”

“Oh, thank you.” The smile Aerith gave him was sweet and genuine. “You’re so kind, Sora.”

Sora rubbed the back of his head bashfully. “Hey, it’s nothing. I like your garden, it’s pretty.” Pretty was an understatement, honestly. Sora had only seen it once before, but her garden was gorgeous. 

Sora, Aerith, and Cloud left the New Former Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee Headquarters (which Sora was pretty sure was just Yuffie’s fancy way for saying “Leon’s house”) and went to Aerith’s backyard just a few houses down. It was bursting with color, flowers of all shapes and sizes and hues reaching up for the sky or trailing along on the ground. The remains of a gravel path could be seen running in between a few patches of flowers, but it looked as if most of it had been swept away to make room for yet more flowers. It was difficult to walk through it without accidentally trampling anything, but they all put forth their best effort, hopping between the small flower-less patches until they reached the large open space towards the end of the yard.

“Alright!” Aerith cheerfully declared once they had all safely waded through the flora. “Most of the flowers I have here are pretty hardy and grow year-round, but this is the section I like to dedicate to more delicate seasonal flowers. I think I’ve got... maybe a hundred or so to plant, for this season?” She cocked her head to side as she considered it.

“A hundred?” Sora asked. That was like, a lot, right? “Will that all fit back here?”

“If anyone can manage it, Aerith can,” Cloud said grimly, surveying the space they had to work with. “Have you got some fresh soil to lay down?”

“Yes, it’s in the shed,” Aerith pointed to small wooden shed in the corner to their right that was covered by flowering vines. “Do you think you two could lay the soil down while I fetch all the new flowers?”

“Sure! Leave it to us.” Sora gave her a thumbs-up.

Gardening turned out to be much more work than Sora had anticipated. His back was already starting to ache by the time they had all the soil and fertilizer spread out evenly, but crouching down to dig little holes and stick the flowers in them was even worse. And then he had to dig his flowers back out so he could tease out the roots after Aerith explained that they couldn’t just be stuck in the ground with no prep. His only consolation was that Cloud didn’t seem to be doing quite so well either, as he kept accidentally mangling the roots he was supposed to be gently teasing. Planting flower seeds wasn’t easy, either: for someone with such a sprawling, chaotic garden, Aerith was very particular about how far apart seeds should be planted. 

They decided to take a break after planting roughly half of their stock. Aerith made them lemonade and they sat on her front porch, watching the people in the street go about their business. The population in Radiant Garden had grown by leaps and bounds since it had been restored to its rightful state, and there was no shortage of people these days. Sora and Aerith made a game of trying to guess the inner lives of the pedestrians that passed, with Cloud occasionally joining in with outlandish conspiracy theories. 

“She’s a secret government spy,” Cloud whispered. “She monitors the people in this section of the city, looking for signs of encroaching darkness. The government has grown paranoid, you see, ever since the Hollow Bastion business. The second someone starts showing signs of corruption... they take them.”

“Whoa,” Sora whispered back, eyes wide. “Where do they take them?”

“Back to their secret government lab,” Cloud answered, nodding knowingly. “And they perform all kinds of experiments to stop the darkness there.”

“What sorts of experiments?” Sora asked, barely daring to breathe.

“Experiments... to make you happy. That way the darkness can’t get you,” Cloud whispered, cupping a hand around his mouth.

“No!” Sora gasped. “Wait. That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“ _That’s what they want you to think._ ”

Aerith laughed. “And what about her kid? Is he in on it?”

Cloud turned back to the mother and son buying ice cream from a stall across the street. “No,” he decided. “He’s just a normal kid. Has no idea.” 

“I bet he likes lizards,” Aerith guessed. “But when he grows up, he wants to work in the government like his mom.” 

Cloud shook his head sadly. “Don’t do it, kid.”

“Hmm, so what about...” Aerith swept her gaze over the street. “Oh, him!” She pointed to a man approaching from down the street. “He looks interesting.”

Sora craned his neck to look. “Huh? Isn’t that Demyx?” He stood and shaded his eyes as the distant form of Demyx gradually grew sharper and closer. “Hey, Demyx!” 

“Whoa, Sora!” Demyx called.

“Sora?” A small blonde head peeked from around the other side of Demyx. Naminé grinned and ran over to greet Sora. “It is you! Funny we’d be here at the same time, huh?” 

“Naminé? What are you doing here? And with Demyx?” Sora asked. Naminé had some sort of bag strapped to her back, but he couldn’t quite tell what it was. 

“We’re taking a break, man,” Demyx explained as he caught up to Naminé. “Breaks are very important.”

“A break from what?” Sora noticed Demyx had his sitar slung across his own back.

“Are these friends of yours, Sora?” Aerith asked. She stood and smiled at Demyx and Naminé. “Hi, I’m Aerith. This is Cloud.”

“Oh, nice to meet you!” Naminé took her hand and shook it enthusiastically, then offered a small wave to Cloud when he remained seated. “I’m Naminé, this is Demyx. And we’re musicians!” She puffed her chest out and planted her hands on her hips.

“Whoa!” Sora exclaimed. “You can play an instrument, Naminé? Since when?”

She giggled. “Since like, two weeks ago. I’m still learning. But Demyx is a surprisingly good teacher.” 

“Surprising? What’s so surprising about it? I take music very seriously!” Demyx complained.

“What are you leaning to play?” Aerith asked.

“Ukulele!” Naminé slung the bag on her back over her shoulder and held it up. It was distinctly ukulele-shaped. “Demyx said it’d be an easy starter instrument. I know a few songs, already!” 

“That’s so cool!” Sora gushed. “Can you play them for us?”

“Um... I dunno.” Naminé looked down and fiddled with the hem of her dress. “I still mess up sometimes.” 

Demyx grinned and clapped her on the shoulder. “Alright, then, I’ll play with you. No way you can mess up with my master playing for backup. You guys better enjoy the free show.” He pointed at Sora, Aerith, and Cloud threateningly. 

“Wait, can we move this to the garden?” Aerith asked. “The flowers love music.”

“We should probably be getting back to work anyway,” Cloud commented.

“We have to work while we listen? Aw...” Sora whined.

A sitar and a ukulele were an unusual combination, but one that worked surprisingly well together. Demyx and Naminé went through a few songs while the others worked, but after a short while Naminé had played all the songs she knew and joined them in the flower patch instead. Demyx played on, even singing in accompaniment a few times. 

The sun was lowering in the sky when they finally finished. Aerith approached each of them a stuck a flower behind their ear in thanks. Sora received an extra bouquet as well, to share with all of his friends. It wasn’t until they had all just parted ways that Sora remembered he needed to talk to Naminé. 

“Wait!” Sora did a one-eighty in the street and dead sprinted down to where Demyx and Naminé were vanishing in the middle distance. “Wait, Naminé!”

Naminé turned, startled, as Sora stumbled to a halt and doubled over to catch his breath. “What is it?”

“It’s...” he trailed off and gulped in more air. “Keyblade Volleyball! You don’t have a weapon. Do you want to learn how to use a gunblade?”

“A gunblade?” Her eyes widened into blue saucers. “A gunblade for Keyblade Volleyball?”

“Yeah! Leon is willing to teach you. I just don’t want you to be left out,” Sora explained.

“Oh, Sora, thank you.” Naminé smiled and clasped his hand. “Okay. I don’t know who Leon is, but I’ll let him teach me gunblading.” 

“Alright!” Sora cheered. “One down! I’ll give him your contact info. Thanks, Naminé!”

“No need to thank me,” she giggled. “I’ll see you around, Sora.”

***

He was heading back to the Destiny Islands in the Gummi ship when he got a call. He picked up, and Chip and Dale’s faces filled up his phone screen.

“Sora!” They yelled simultaneously, scampering back so they weren’t taking up the whole screen.

“Hey guys!” Sora greeted. “What’s up? Something wrong?”

“It’s the Heartless!” Dale exclaimed. “There have been reports of them in Neverland!”

“I hate to ask this of you, Sora, but do you think you could go take care of them?” Chip asked, clasping his little hands together.

“Heartless? Leave it to me!” Sora clenched a fist over his chest and nodded firmly. “Am I going by myself? What about Donald and Goofy?” He tried to keep the excitement out of his voice. He could already hear Donald’s voice in his head, telling him that Heartless weren’t a good thing and he shouldn’t get so worked up. 

“Aw, I’m sorry Sora, but they’re needed at the castle,” Chip told him, ears drooping apologetically. 

“The reports have mentioned there’s only a few, so you might be alright on your own,” Dale said. “But you should bring some of your other friends along just in case.”

“Oh. Alright.” Now it was disappointment he had to conceal. It’d been so long since he was able to fight alongside Donald and Goofy. He missed the exhilaration of battle mixed with the feeling of utter security that could only come from fighting alongside his most trusted friends. He supposed he could ask Riku and Kairi to come along, but... “I’ll just go by myself. It’s pretty late to be bothering the others.”

“Well... If you’re sure, Sora,” Chip said. “But get out of there if it’s too much to handle yourself. And good luck!” The connection died with a click.

Sora turned the Gummi ship around and set off for Neverland. At least he’d get to experience flying again. The feeling of the wind in your hair, the ground and sky both stretching out endlessly in every direction... there was nothing like it.

There truly weren’t very many Heartless, so Sora turned down Peter Pan’s offer of help and went to go handle them himself. Flying through the sky in a whirling blur of metal and magic, Sora felt all the little worries and stresses of everyday life slipping away. He had missed this. As he swooped under a Fluttering, angling his keyblade up to rip through its underside, he wondered briefly if this meant that darkness was encroaching on the worlds once more. Barrel rolling to the side, he flung off a Thundaga at a group in front of him. It didn’t matter, he decided. If the Heartless did come back in full force, he would defeat them, and that was all he cared about for now. His mind, blissfully, blanked after that resolution, and he threw himself freely into the thrill of combat.

It was over too soon. He called Chip and Dale to report the demise of the Heartless, sent off a text to Kairi and Riku to inform them of this new development, and then climbed back in the ship and headed home. 

Lying in bed that night, there was an itch in his legs that burned no matter how much he scratched.

***

Sora spent the next few days handing flowers out to his friends as Aerith had instructed. He didn’t know anything about flower language, but he tried to match the flowers to the people based on their colors and appearance. Kairi got a pink peony, Riku received a small lilac, Roxas got a pure white snowdrop, and so on. Aqua, who apparently did know flower language, seemed pleased with her own cluster of blue stars, so Sora figured he was at the very least not accidentally insulting anyone.

On the weekend he took the Gummi ship back to the Keyblade Graveyard, after Vanitas had finally texted back to share his location. He spent a few moments wandering around the world and laying his extra flowers by the keyblades, then headed for the cliff looming over the labyrinth. Vanitas hadn’t told him where in the Badlands he was, but Sora’s gut feeling told him he should look there. 

Vanitas sat on the edge of the cliff, his knees pulled up to his chest, his phone cradled in his hand. He wore his helmet, but the rest of his outfit was casual and (thankfully) different from the one Sora had last seen him in. He was surrounded by a cluster of various Unversed, milling about aimlessly. 

“Hey, Vanitas,” Sora called softly, eyeing the Unversed warily. At the sound of his voice, the group turned to look at him, then rushed forward to attack. Sora jumped back, looking to Vanitas, reluctant to summon his keyblade. 

“Stop it,” Vanitas said, his voice edging on annoyance. 

Who was he talking to? Sora leapt back again as a Flood tried to sink its claws into his calf and summoned his keyblade to parry a blow from a Scrapper.

“I said _stop it_ ,” Vanitas repeated, louder this time, his head between his knees and his free hand clenched into a tight fist against the ground. 

The Unversed stopped. Several of them stared at Sora unblinkingly. The rest resumed milling about aimlessly.

Sora gently edged around them until he could sit by Vanitas. The other boy gave him no acknowledgment.

“Hey,” Sora said again. “Why the helmet? You look pretty weird with just the helmet and no armor,” he admitted.

“Sun hurts,” Vanitas mumbled. “Too bright.”

“Oh.” Sora frowned and squinted up at the sun. “Oh, wait! I actually brought you something for that.” He rummaged through his pockets until he found the plain black sunglasses he had bought the other day. He held them out to Vanitas. “I got these for you. We should’ve bought them during our clothes shopping trip, but I forgot. Sorry.”

Vanitas’s head moved slightly to indicate he was looking at the sunglasses. He made no move to take them.

“Er... you put them on. Like this.” Sora put the sunglasses on his own face, then removed them and offered them to Vanitas again. “They make everything less bright.”

Vanitas hesitantly reached out and took the sunglasses, very carefully keeping his hand from touching Sora’s. His helmet opened up and he slipped them over his eyes. He looked around, then straight up at the sun, then back at Sora. “...Helps a little,” he said. “Could be darker.” But he kept them on and lifted his helmet off. 

“Here’s the other thing I got for you. The one I texted you about.” Sora held out a single yellow daffodil. 

Vanitas stared at it for a while. “A flower? What can I do with that?” He grabbed it by the stem and twirled it around. “Can you eat them?”

“Um, no, don’t do that. You don’t really _do_ anything with them. They’re just pretty,” Sora explained. 

Vanitas frowned. “Then what’s the point?” 

“Just to have something nice to look at?” Sora offered. “It’s also supposed to be like, you know,” he shifted a little, rubbing the back of his head, “proof that someone’s thinking about you. You give flowers to people that are important to you, to let them know you want them to be happy.” 

“Oh.” Vanitas went very quiet as he stared at the flower. The fragment in Sora’s heart gave a painful lurch that softened out into a tingly warmth. 

“Here.” Sora plucked the daffodil from Vanitas’s hands and slipped it behind his ear. Sora grinned. Vanitas looked a little ridiculous with the shades and the flower. 

Vanitas looked away, over the edge of the cliff and at the ground below. The Unversed shuffled around noisily behind them. When Vanitas finally spoke again, it was so quietly Sora barely heard him. “I figured you’d be mad at me.” 

Sora sighed and followed Vanitas’s gaze to the ground. “I’m not mad, exactly. But you should apologize to Riku.”

“I don’t want to,” Vanitas said. “I don’t think I did anything I should have to apologize for.” 

“It’s the right thing to do. If you upset someone, you should apologize so they’ll know you didn’t do it on purpose. Or... did you do it on purpose?” Sora asked.

Vanitas shrugged. “I can take what I want. The goal wasn’t to piss him off, but I didn’t really care that I did, either. Still don’t.”

“Well... you can at least tell him you weren’t doing it specifically to annoy him.” Sora supposed it was too much to hope for Vanitas to learn things like respect and common courtesy overnight. But it bothered him that Vanitas could care so little about the feelings of others. 

“Fine,” Vanitas agreed. “Whatever. You and Selphie didn’t care that much, though. Oh, right.” Vanitas finally looked back at Sora. “Why can’t I text Selphie?” He held his phone up with the screen facing Sora.

He’d been trying to text Selphie? Did they talk? “Oh, that’s because she doesn’t have a Gummi phone. She can only text people who are in the same world as her.”

Vanitas scowled. “That’s inconvenient. I might as well talk to her in person if I have to go back to the Islands every time.” 

“Yeah,” Sora agreed. “But she’s not supposed to know about other worlds and stuff.” Never mind that Sora had told her anyway. _Order,_ Donald’s voice rang in his head.

They lapsed into silence. Vanitas stared down the cliff at the ground again. His body was tense and stiff, his grip on his phone worryingly tight. Every now and then he would shift his weight and make a small noise somewhere between a sigh and a groan. 

“Are you okay?” Sora asked. 

“Fine,” came the brusque reply. 

Sora couldn’t help but doubt that. Vanitas seemed agitated, or perhaps uncomfortable. “Are you sure?” he pressed. 

“I’m fucking fine,” Vanitas snapped. 

Sora let it drop. He was trying to formulate a new, safer conversation topic when he became aware he was being watched. Turning his head to the side, he spotted a small Flood, huddled close to the ground a few feet away, staring at him with its pointed red eyes. 

“Hi,” Sora said. He scooted a little closer to it, and it watched passively. Emboldened, Sora pressed his palm onto its head. It was warm and very wet, and Sora recoiled away instinctively.

“What are you doing?” Vanitas asked. “Just leave it.”

“Aw, he’s fine.” Sora stuck his hand on it again. It trembled slightly under his touch, but otherwise was still. He stared into its eyes for a moment, deliberating. Then he scooped it up, hooking his hands around its midsection.

“What are you _doing?_ ” Vanitas asked again.

The Flood went completely limp in his arms, hanging down like some small animal’s carcass. Sora wiggled it experimentally, and its little body swung to and fro like a sack of potatoes, only much lighter. So maybe more like a bag of strawberries or something. The other Unversed had started watching him. “There’s a lot of these guys here today,” Sora commented.

Vanitas looked at him and the Flood over his shades as if they had just announced their imminent marriage together. “Don’t touch it,” he complained, incredulous.

“Why not? Can you feel it?” Sora set the Flood down in his lap, where it dug its tiny claws into his leg and hunkered down. 

“I don’t know. No. Maybe. A little,” Vanitas clarified. 

Sora hummed, considering. He put his hand back on the Flood’s head, ignoring the wetness, and began to stroke down its back as if it were a friendly cat. It shuddered and twitched under his touch. 

Vanitas definitely felt that. He shuddered too, then sat up ramrod straight, his face flushed slightly. “Stop it,” he said. “That feels weird.”

“Oh, sorry.” Sora stopped and wiped his hand on his pants. “Hey, last time I saw you here these guys weren’t so friendly. But this time is different?” 

Vanitas shrugged uncomfortably. “No point in killing them. I’ll just make more.”

“Then why attack them in the first place?” Sora studied the Flood in his lap. It was weird, but it wasn’t acting aggressively. And it had listened to Vanitas earlier. 

“What else is there to do?” Vanitas curled back up into himself, drawing his knees even closer to his chest. “They usually start it, anyway.” 

“They attack you?” He’d wondered about that before, but last time he’d brought it up Vanitas had become defensive. “They listened to you earlier.”

“Sometimes they don’t,” Vanitas admitted. “I can’t stand looking at them anyway. I wish I could kill them all for good.” 

“That sucks.” Sora poked the Flood. It would probably be annoying, to have a monster appear any time you felt something. Would it be possible to get rid of them for good? He’d have to ask Even. 

“...Hey,” Vanitas started. He fiddled around with something on his phone, not looking at Sora. “Do that thing again.”

“That thing? What thing? This thing?” Sora stroked the Flood again. That was the only thing he could remember doing recently. 

“Yeah,” Vanitas sighed. “That.” Slowly he uncurled himself, stretching out his legs and then lying on his back. His body relaxed for the first time since Sora had started talking to him.

“That’s... good?” Sora kept petting the Flood. Vanitas tended to twitch whenever it did, he noticed. 

Vanitas grunted in affirmation. “It’s still weird. But it hurts a little less,” he mumbled.

“What hurts a little less?” 

“Everything,” Vanitas answered.

“Are you hurting now?” Sora frowned down at the Flood. Was it the Unversed? If he broke off pieces of his heart to make them, did their very existing hurt him, and not just their being defeated?

Vanitas hummed noncommittally and stretched his arms out over his head. 

The Flood was shifting from sopping wet to just slightly damp. The rest of the Unversed had stopped moving around and were just standing in place and shaking. It was kind of eerie. Sora scratched under the Flood’s chin and it leaned into his hand with a soft hum. “Er, hey, Vanitas?”

“Hmm?” Vanitas rolled to face Sora.

“Do the Unversed ever... go away on their own? Or do you have to defeat them to get rid of them?”

“You have to kill them. I’ll do it later,” Vanitas murmured.

“Oh.” Hurt yourself or live with the monsters that broadcast your feelings to all the worlds and also sometimes attacked you. That wasn’t much of a choice. “You can’t just... tell them to go somewhere and never come back?”

“I can.” Vanitas pushed himself onto his stomach and propped himself up on his elbows. “They won’t stay there forever. They’ll do their own thing eventually. So someone else will just come along and kill them. Probably you and your friends.” 

“There has to be another way.”

Vanitas shrugged. “Sure. Fuse with Ventus. But that’s not going to happen, is it?” He sounded bitter, but also resigned.

“Probably not,” Sora admitted with a sigh. “He still doesn’t really like you.” And Sora didn’t want them to fuse, anyway, if it meant losing either one of them.

Vanitas snorted. “The feeling’s mutual.”

“Why do you hate Ventus so much?” Sora never really understood why they disliked each other as much as they did. They started out as the same person. Sora had never felt that way about Roxas, and they started out the same, too. 

“He’s weak.” Vanitas scowled. “He’s weak and annoying but he’s always acting like he’s so much better and stronger than me. And he’s so self-righteous about it. Like he thinks he’s superior because he’s _light_ and he has a couple of idiots who love to coddle him.” He snorted and looked away. “He isn’t any better than me. _I’m_ the stronger one. _I’m_ not the one who was thrown aside as a failure.” 

“A failure?” Sora’s ministrations stuttered to a halt as he tried to process everything, but hastily resumed when both the Flood and Vanitas glared at him.

“Ventus is a failure,” Vanitas asserted. “Master Xehanort threw him away. But not _me._ Clearly, I have more promise than him.” 

“Master Xehanort, huh…” Ventus never talked about Xehanort. Terra would mention him sometimes, but not often. Aqua was the most willing to discuss him, and had been the one to tell Sora what little he now knew about the former keyblade master. Nothing she had said had painted a very flattering picture. “Ventus said he doesn’t like being around you, but he doesn’t like that he doesn’t like it.”

“I know exactly what Ventus thinks of me,” Vanitas stated flatly. He rolled onto his back again. “Keep doing that thing,” he commanded. “I might even be able to fall asleep.”

“Uh, sure?” Sora kept on petting the Flood. Vanitas did eventually fall asleep, and stayed asleep even when Sora poked and prodded him, so Sora figured he must have been pretty tired. He sat for a while and watched the sun set, an orange glow diffusing over the arid ground and softly encasing the derelict keyblades. Such a lonely world. Did Vanitas live here? 

Eventually darkness fell and the Unversed grew restless, so Sora slipped off back to the Gummi ship, sending Vanitas an explanatory text for when he woke up. What Ventus and Vanitas said about each other bothered him, although he wasn’t sure why. Maybe he should try questioning Ventus more. Or maybe it was none of his business. He thought it over during the ride home but came no closer to any kind of answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> vanitas basically has the fantasy equivalent of chronic pain. poor dude
> 
> kairi probably wishes so badly that sora actually did know flower language. sorry honey he didnt mean it like that...
> 
> does vanitas pee,,,, yes he does. at least he does now since he started actually eating/drinking things. hes potty trained dont worry...
> 
> they totally spent like 20000 munny on all of vanitas's clothes last chapter. kairi prioritized looks over price and they all payed for it smh


	11. In Which Ienzo Dominates the Leaderboard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what is chirithys gender anyway

“Sandwich, Sora?” Aqua offered the plate full of barbeque sandwiches to Sora.

“Oh, thanks.” Sora took one and bit into it, watching the clouds up above as he chewed. The weather was fair and the sky was a lovely light blue, a faint breeze rippling through the grass at irregular intervals. The stream beside them gurgled faintly, its waters crystal clear and teeming with tiny fish. It was the perfect spot for a picnic, and Sora was a little jealous there wasn’t any place like this on the Islands. The Land of Departure was beautiful. 

“I heard you’re still working on Keyblade Volleyball,” Terra commented, idly brushing some bread crumbs off his pants. “How’s that going?”

“Good!” Sora smiled. “Right now I’m focusing on getting people without weapons proper weapon training so they can play too. Then I’ll need to create an actual rule set. That’s the hard part.” He furrowed his brows and stared down at the gray linen sheet they had dragged out to sit on. With so many different weapon types to consider, there would need to be a lot of rules. He wasn’t looking forward to that part.

“Well, hey, you’re still making progress!” Ventus proclaimed cheerfully. “You’re putting so much into this, I’m sure it’ll turn out great.” 

“Thanks.” Sora shot him a grateful smile before devouring the rest of his sandwich. “So, is that why you guys invited me here? You wanna help with Keyblade Volleyball?”

“Well... no,” Aqua admitted. She fiddled about with Chirithy’s cape. “Not that we aren’t willing to help, of course!”

Ventus sighed and casually rescued Chirithy from Aqua’s nervous attention, drawing the small cat into his lap. “I’m sure you guessed what this was about. Right?”

“Vanitas?” Sora went for another sandwich. “Who made these? They’re really good. Compliments to the chef!” He mimed a chef’s kiss, grinning.

“Uh, that was me. Thank you,” Terra said. “But yeah, this is about Vanitas. We’re wondering about him. I mean, it’s been a long time since any of us has run into him, which is unusual.” 

“I know you’re still seeing him, though.” Ventus stared at him, face devoid of his usual smile. “He hasn’t... given up fusing, has he?”

“Hmm...” Sora pondered that while he finished his second sandwich. “I don’t know?” was the answer he settled on, crossing his arms over his chest. “He mentioned it when I saw him the other day. He talked about it as if it wasn’t something that was ever going to happen.” 

“So... he has given up?” Terra scratched his head, seemingly perplexed. “That doesn’t really seem like him.”

“I agree.” Aqua nodded. “But then, nothing he does these days seems much like him.”

“Hey, can I ask what exactly it is that you guys are expecting out of him?” Sora questioned. He looked at each of them in turn but settled his gaze on Ventus.

Ventus sighed. “Probably much worse than whatever you’re expecting.”

“Yeah,” Aqua agreed. “All of our interactions with him have been... unpleasant. Either he tries to hurt someone, or he talks about wanting to hurt someone. If he’s capable of kindness and empathy, it’s not something we’ve ever seen.” She ran a hand through her hair, mussing it up. “...Is he capable of kindness and empathy?”

Sora nodded vigorously. “Yeah! I think so.” 

“I asked you a bit about that last time,” Ventus said. “About him having good qualities.”

“If he came from Ventus, he must have good qualities!” Chirithy declared, swinging its little arms back and forth. 

“Thanks.” Ventus smiled softly and patted Chirithy’s head. “I’d like to think that, too. Hearing about him helps.”

“Well, what do you want to hear?” Sora asked.

“How does he treat you?” Terra asked. “Is he like, insulting and derogatory? Or... is he ever nice?”

“Umm... maybe not nice, but not really insulting either?” Sora answered. “At least, not as much anymore. He was at first. He complimented me, like... once?” And it had been about Sora’s darkness, so maybe that wasn’t the best example. “Oh, and he did my math homework once. That was nice. Even if I don’t think he was really doing it for me.”

“He did your math homework?” Ventus asked, eyes wide.

“Yeah! He likes math, I guess. He was pretty good at it. He let Riku teach him.” Which had been really weird, but he had felt nice and fuzzy seeing Vanitas be cordial (for him) to Sora’s friends. “Oh, and then we went clothes shopping and Kairi picked out a bunch of stuff for him. He tried it all on for us.”

“Clothes?” Ventus’s eyes went impossibly wider. “Wait, he actually wore like, normal clothes?”

Sora nodded. “He was still wearing them, last I saw.”

“Weird,” Ventus proclaimed. “He really just... spent the day with you? And your friends?”

“He did. It was kinda fun, actually,” Sora rubbed the back of his head. “And he wasn’t insulting us or trying to pick fights the whole time. He just talked like, I don’t know, a regular person who’s only kind of mean?”

“I still can’t help but think he’s after something,” Aqua declared, her eyes narrowed. “Like this is all just some ploy to lower everyone’s defenses so he can hit us off guard and successfully get at Ven. But I’ll try to trust you on this, Sora.”

“He’s a little different from me,” Terra started, hesitantly. “He never had any light to begin with. He wasn’t corrupted by darkness; it’s all he’s ever been. But I want to believe that he could... get better, if he wanted to. That he doesn’t have to live as some terrible creature of darkness.”

“Terra...” Aqua sighed.

“Yeah,” Ventus agreed. “Anyone can change. I want to think that too.”

Terra clasped Ventus’s shoulder and smiled warmly, then turned back to Sora. “I spent some time with him, when I was...” He swallowed. “Well. But he wasn’t much like what you’re describing now. If there wasn’t anything he needed, he mostly kept to himself. I can’t remember him interacting much with anyone, although my memory of that time is admittedly pretty hazy. He just did whatever Xehanort and his own survival required of him and not much else. It’s probably good for him to be around people more.”

“Xehanort...” Ventus muttered, barely audible. “Right. Vanitas is just another of Xehanort’s victims. Like Terra was.” 

It was Aqua’s turn to lay a hand on Ventus’s shoulder. Chirithy took one of Ventus’s hands between its stubby arms. 

“I’d like to meet this Vanitas!” Chirithy declared. “If he’s part of Ventus, he should be my friend, too.”

“Huh? You think so?” Sora asked. “I could probably get you two in the same place, if you want.”

Chirithy turned to Ventus.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Ventus said. “You don’t need my permission or anything. I’ll be interested to know what you make of him.” 

“Cool!” Sora said. “Come by the Islands later. I’ll see about finding Vanitas tomorrow.” 

“Well, that’s enough serious talk for now, I think,” Ventus declared, standing up. “Care for a spar, Sora? I’ve been trying to work on a new move, but these two know me too well and block me at almost every turn. I think it’ll be good to try it on someone with less knowledge on my fighting style.” He grinned and offered a hand to Sora.

Sora grinned back and took the hand, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. “Sure thing, but you might find I know more about you than you think.” 

Ventus’s grin only grew. “And I think you’ll find that I’m much stronger now than I was right after waking up.”

“You two be careful,” Aqua cautioned.

“Kick his butt, Ven,” Terra encouraged.

Ventus lead Sora a little way off so they wouldn’t accidentally involve the others. Ventus was a lot stronger than he had been before: all of his studying for the Mark of Mastery exam was definitely paying off. Sora found himself smiling like an idiot as he dodged and parried and threw out counterattacks in the rare moments when Ventus was slow enough to leave an opening. It had been hard to truly _enjoy_ the fighting before, when Sora had had impossibly high stakes looming over his head, but now he found he missed the adrenaline rush. When he finally managed a well-timed blow that sent Ventus’s keyblade flying, followed by a solid kick that brought him down to the ground, Sora resolved to try and find time for sparring more often.

***

Radiant Garden was as radiant as ever. Lately Sora felt as if he’d been here more often than he was on the Islands, even though he knew that wasn’t true. This time his goal was the castle, and Dilan and Aeleus waved him through the gates.

Even was in the lab with the three captured Unversed. The Flood and Hareraiser both wandered about behind the glass partition, but the Mandrake was chained to the table while Even poked at it with what seemed to be the fancy scientific equivalent of a stick. He looked up at Sora’s entrance and waved him over. “Ah, Sora! Come here, if you would.” 

Sora approached cautiously, but the Mandrake paid him little mind, its red eyes fixed firmly on Even. “Uh… what are you doing?”

“Watch.” Even jabbed the stick forward so it poked into the Mandrake. It jumped slightly and then swung its sharp head tendrils at the stick, which took the blow with little to show for it. Even carefully set the stick aside and grabbed a thick black rod with two prongs at the end. “And now with the shock stick. See how it – quit looking at me like that, I’m not actually going to hurt it – see how it reacts.” Even maneuvered the stick so it was a few inches from the Mandrake’s face and then activated it, the electricity crackling sharply. The Mandrake jumped a full foot in the air, lost its balance on the way back down, and toppled over onto its side in a puff of pollen. Even turned to Sora triumphantly. “Now _that_ is a fear response if I’ve ever seen one. And much stronger than what I can get out of the other two.”

Sora frowned at the Mandrake as it struggled back to its stumpy little feet. “I feel bad for it.”

“Oh, it’s alright.” Even waved the concern off. “It’s afraid of most things, I’m learning. Although I wish its trigger response wasn’t to attack me.”

“Have you learned anything about the other one? The bunny one?” Sora asked.

“I’ve learned that it doesn’t react much to anything. It barely even pays attention to me.” Even summoned his shield and shoved it in the Mandrake’s face, unchaining it from the table while it was distracted. 

Sora reached out on an impulse to try and soothe the Mandrake and was attacked for his trouble. He drew his hand back and gave the Unversed his best look of hurt betrayal. “Well, I’m glad you’re getting somewhere, I guess. I actually came here to ask you about the Unversed.”

“I’ve told you basically everything I’ve learned.” Even began to herd the Mandrake away with his shield, pushing and shoving at it until it finally stumbled back through the door leading to the other side of the room. Its fellow Unversed glanced at it briefly and then resumed pacing about. 

“Should they have something to do in there? They don’t get bored or try to get out?” Sora placed a hand on the glass partition as he watched the Unversed.

“I don’t believe they’re dogs, no. Enrichment shouldn’t be necessary. And there’s been no attempted jailbreak,” Even answered. “They don’t interact much with their environment at all. It’s only people they’re interested in.”

“Hmm.” Sora watched them for a moment longer before he turned to Even. “So what I wanted to ask was, do you think there’s any way to get rid of the Unversed? For good?”

“Get rid of them?” Even brought his hand to his chin and cocked his head to the side as he considered it. “You mean, prevent them from ever being made in the first place?”

“Yeah. To make it so they don’t exist anymore.”

“I’m not sure. I suppose I’d need to study Vanitas himself to determine that. Do you think he would be willing?”

“Er, probably not.” Sora could not imagine any scenario in which Vanitas would be happy with being studied and experimented on. Sora didn’t really like thinking about it either. 

“Then I’m afraid I can’t give you any sort of definitive answer. I suppose he would require a more stable heart in order for that to happen. One which balances both light and dark. But even then, it might not change anything,” Even mused. “After all, Ventus’s heart was pure light and he never manifested his emotions. You could argue it only applies to pure darkness, but hearts corrupted by darkness don’t manifest emotions either. Vanitas’s case is special. It may simply be something that is intrinsic to him.”

“So…” Sora struggled to follow. “You don’t know that it’s possible, but you think there’s a chance it might not be?”

Even shrugged. “Without being able to study Vanitas himself, I could easily be convinced either way.”

“Oh.” If even the scientist didn’t know, who else was there to ask? Maybe Vanitas really would just be stuck with the Unversed forever. “Okay. That’s all I was wondering.”

“I’m sorry that I couldn’t answer to your satisfaction.” Even sighed. “You could always just keep him from feeling negative emotions, I suppose. Although that’s less stitching up a wound and more slapping a bandaid on it.”

Which really just brought Sora back to The Plan. Being Vanitas’s friend was the best way to help him. But he found his heart sinking at the thought. He couldn’t shake that awful feeling that he wasn’t doing enough, that all of his efforts weren’t doing a single thing for Vanitas’s pain. “Thanks anyway. Do you know where Ienzo is?”

“No, I’m afraid not. I’m sure he’s here somewhere, though. He hardly ever leaves.”

Time to go on a manhunt, then. The castle couldn’t be that big, could it?

Sora learned over the next ten minutes, courtesy of Aeleus who had caught him trying to enter an off-limits room, that the castle was actually very big, and that searching the whole thing would take him hours. Fortunately, he also learned that Ienzo was in the gardens. The man was sitting on a bench, completely engrossed with his Gummi phone, not even looking up as Sora approached. 

“Hey!” Sora greeted as he stopped in front of Ienzo.

Ienzo jumped and almost dropped his phone. “Sora! I didn’t see you there. You scared me.”

Sora grinned. “What are you looking at that’s so interesting? I don’t think I’ve ever managed to surprise you before.”

Ienzo rubbed the back of his head and offered a little laugh. “Er, just playing a game…”

“Oh, which one?” Sora craned his neck forward to try and look at his phone screen.

Ienzo tilted the screen away slightly, face flushed. “Um, just that fishing game… Pence beat my record, so…” he mumbled.

“Your record?” Sora gasped as realization struck. “Wait, is that you at the top of every single leaderboard?”

“Well. Yes.” Ienzo looked away. “These games are good time-wasters, that’s all.”

“ _Whoa,_ ” Sora breathed. “I’ve been trying to beat you for like, ages. How do you do it?”

“It’s really not that hard once you can figure out the algorithm these games run on,” Ienzo confessed. “Although you also need the skill to back up the knowledge. Luckily, my reflexes have been much better since my time fighting in the Organization…” 

“That’s like, super cool,” Sora told him seriously. “And I actually came here to ask you if you’d like to learn something else that’s cool.”

“Something else…?”

“How do you feel about gunblades?”

Ienzo blinked. “You mean like Leon’s? I don’t imagine they’re the most practical weapon, but they seem to get the job done.”

“Oh, you know Leon! Good, that makes this easier.” Sora nodded gravely. “How would you feel about learning how to use one?”

“Learning… to fight with a gunblade?” Ienzo’s eyes reflected pure bafflement. “Why?”

“So you can play Keyblade Volleyball with everyone! Your only weapon right now is a book, right?” At Ienzo’s nod, Sora continued, “You can’t just go around smacking a volleyball with a book. You need a _proper_ weapon. And I just so happen to have some gunblades. And a man who would willing to teach you how to use it. Perfect solution!” Sora flashed his most winning smile. 

“This is for volleyball? You want to attack volleyballs with weapons?” Confusion continued to cloud Ienzo’s eyes. “Can you do that to a volleyball without destroying it?”

“Oh. That’s a really good point.” Sora paused briefly with a frown, but then brightened up again. “That’s now on the list of things to work out later! For now we just need to know what kinds of weapons we’ll have to account for. So, are you in? It should be fun!” Hopefully.

“So… you want me to train with Leon? With a gunblade?”

“Yup!”

“Um… okay?” Ienzo nodded hesitantly. “How often will I be doing this? I don’t have much free time.”

“You’ll have to work out a schedule with Leon. I can give you his contact information.” Sora resisted the urge to pump his fist in the air. One more down! Keyblade Volleyball was rapidly becoming a very real possibility. All they needed now was an official ruleset. And a super strong volleyball.

***

Okay, so Sora was technically skipping school. But it was also technically for the greater good, and he hadn’t done his composition homework anyway, so he was technically completely justified. The middle of the day just happened to be the only time he could invite Vanitas over for a movie marathon without his parents finding out. He went over the movies he had collected for the event with Chirithy while they waited for Vanitas to show up. He had borrowed a lot of Kairi’s horror collection, with some of Riku’s weird arthouse stuff and Sora’s own favorite blockbusters thrown in for variety. He was contemplating adding some of his musicals to the pile when he heard someone try the door. The doorbell rang not soon after.

“Coming!” Sora ran to the door and threw it open.

“Hey, Sora! Good to see you!” Selphie greeted brightly as she breezed around him and into his house. Vanitas followed after her.

“Uh.” Sora stood in the open doorway for a moment. “Hi, Selphie?”

“I heard we’re having a movie marathon! I brought some of my romance classics with me! You’ve got popcorn, right?” Selphie chattered happily, already arranging herself on Sora’s living room couch.

Sora shut the door. “Yeah, there’s popcorn.” He turned to Vanitas, who had paused in the entryway to watch him. “You invited Selphie?”

Vanitas shrugged languidly and offered no explanation. He was smirking slightly, seemingly amused by Sora’s confusion. 

“That’s fine, I guess, but…” He lowered his voice. “Why?”

“I like her movies. I wasn’t sure you’d have the same ones,” Vanitas answered. 

Sora furrowed his eyebrows as he considered that. It seemed a valid enough reason for someone with very limited movie knowledge, but it was still weird to see Vanitas just show up with Selphie. Sora was getting used to the idea of being able to text and hang out with Vanitas, but to think that Vanitas would do the same with other people… it was strange.

“Ah! Sora!” Selphie’s yelling cut off any further thoughts. “Why is this stuffed cat talking to me?”

“Oh, Chirithy!” Sora rushed into the living room. Chirithy was on the floor in front of Selphie, who had curled up away from it on the couch. “Selphie, this is Chirithy.”

“I’m not a monster!” Chirithy huffed indignantly. “You don’t need to be afraid of me! I’m a-” It cut off abruptly as Vanitas entered the room, flipping around to face him. “Ventus!”

Vanitas recoiled violently, eyes wide, and took a few steps back.

Chirithy ran over to him, but slowed a few feet away. “Oh. You’re not Ventus. Are you Vanitas?”

“Do I know you?” Vanitas’s breathing was fast and hard, audible in the otherwise quiet room. 

“We were friends! Before you were split,” Chirithy explained. “Can we be friends again?”

“Friends? You mean Ventus’s friend? I don’t remember you.”

“Ventus doesn’t really remember me either,” Chirithy sighed. “But that’s okay. We can still be friends. If you want me around.” It scuffed its foot against the floor.

Vanitas stared at it for a long time, the shock and distress in his face slowly morphing into something closer to sheer incredulity. “You’re a Dream Eater,” he blurted suddenly. “You guide keyblade wielders.”

“Yes!” Chirithy jumped up and down. “Did you remember that?”

“I don’t know.” Vanitas shook his head, then finally schooled his expression into a glare. “We aren’t friends.”

“Oh.” Chirithy looked down at the floor. “Why not?”

“You aren’t _my_ Dream Eater. Or if you are, you’re doing a shitty job at it.”

“It is true that we aren’t connected. Even though you feel so much like Ventus… I wonder why our connection was severed?” Chirithy shook its head and looked back up at Vanitas. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”

Vanitas’s glare grew in intensity. “I’m just the lesser Ventus to you, aren’t I? Go hang out with him if you love him so much.” Vanitas walked around it and sat on the couch next to Selphie.

“Oh…” 

Sora went to Chirithy and knelt beside it. “Hey, it’s alright,” he whispered. “He won’t call me his friend either. It just takes him a long time to warm up to people. If you stick around, he might decide you aren’t so bad.”

Chirithy shook its head. “Thank you, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to stick around. I’ve clearly upset him. And I don’t want to ruin your fun.”

“Aw, no, it’s okay, really,” Sora insisted.

“Hey, what is going on?” Selphie demanded, cutting across their conversation. “The talking cat eats dreams? Where do you _find_ these things, Sora?”

Sora stood back up and laughed awkwardly. “Uh, you know, those other worlds? The talking cat is named Chirithy and is friends with Vanitas’s brother. I can explain more, but it will take a long time.”

Selphie crossed her arms and huffed. “Fine. Is it going to watch movies with us?”

“No, I think I’ll be on my way now,” Chirithy said. “Thanks, Sora. See you, Vanitas. And… whoever you are.” And with that Chirithy poofed out of the house.

“Weird,” Selphie declared. “But I guess Vanitas here is weirder. Hurry and make some popcorn, Sora.”

“Okay. Someone pick out a movie while I make it. The pile’s on the table.” Sora headed off for the kitchen and spent a few minutes popping kernels on the stove, then melting large amounts of butter to pour all over it. He considered the kitchen’s spice rack for a long time, weighing the different taste combinations in his mind, then finally decided to just upend a salt shaker over the popcorn bowl and call it a day. When he came back, Vanitas shoved a movie case at him. It was one of Kairi’s. The cover featured a blonde woman screaming and running from some vague shadow, with the title dripping blood. 

“This one,” he said.

“I can’t believe you invited me here just to make me watch horror movies,” Selphie complained as Sora started up the DVD.

Sora squished in on the other side of Selphie as the movie began. He settled in with a weary sigh, drawing the popcorn closer to himself and hoping this one didn’t have too many jump scares.

Watching a movie with Vanitas was… interesting. He cheated Sora out of his usual role (talking the entire time) by keeping up a running commentary, alternating between remarking on the events in the movie or asking questions. Most of his questions were related to the characters and their relationships, which he seemed to have trouble understanding (the teenage couple seemed to bother him the most, especially after their dramatic breakup), but a few were related to more mundane things, such as what a toaster was or why the cabin was full of preserved dead animals. What was most surprising was that Vanitas didn’t cheer for the serial killer like Sora had half-expected him to. Instead, he criticized both the hapless victims and the killer equally, pointing out in any given scene all the different ways he could’ve successfully escaped from/murdered someone. 

When the credits finally rolled, Vanitas sat back with his arms crossed. “Those people were stupid. You deserve to die if you’re going to act like that.”

“I don’t know,” Selphie said. “Horror movies freak me out. I’d probably act the same way in their shoes.” She shuddered. “Ugh, now I’m going to lay awake all night picturing some creep with a machete outside my window.”

“If your creep is as incompetent as this guy was, I don’t think you need to worry,” Vanitas said.

“Well, I’m going to the bathroom.” Selphie stood up and pointed in everyone’s general direction. “Choose another movie while I’m gone. But not another horror movie. I can’t take two in a row.” She flounced off. 

Vanitas grabbed a movie out of the pile at random and threw it at Sora. “Is this horror?”

It was a romance, with a couple kissing on the cover. “No. It’s one of Selphie’s.”

“So, like… kissing, and relationships, and stuff?”

“Yeah. Those are called romance movies.” Sora popped the DVD into the DVD player and let it run on the title screen while they waited for Selphie. “Hey, do you like Selphie?”

“Like her?” Vanitas tilted his head and frowned slightly as he considered it. “I don’t know. She’s not as annoying as that girl you’re friends with, at least.”

“Hey! Kairi is _wonderful,_ ” Sora defended automatically. She wasn’t annoying! Definitely not compared to Selphie.

“Yeah, exactly.” Vanitas crossed his arms. “She’s so _wonderful._ So _good_ and _pure_ and bright, I’m surprised it doesn’t hurt me to look at her.”

None of those were insults, exactly, but Vanitas said them like they were. “There’s nothing wrong with that! Why do you hate light so much? Kairi’s never done anything to you.”

“No, I suppose not,” Vanitas admitted. “It’s just annoying. Light always goes around thinking it’s so superior.”

“Kairi doesn’t act like that.”

“Maybe.” Vanitas didn’t look convinced. “But I don’t like the way she looks at me. Like she can’t figure out if she’s supposed to pity me or not.” He drew his knees up to his chest. “Selphie doesn’t look at me like that. And she’s capable of much more negative emotion too. So. She’s not as annoying.”

Sora gave a little hum as he turned that over. He hadn’t noticed Kairi looking at him like that, but maybe Vanitas was more sensitive to that kind of thing. Had he ever looked at Vanitas in the same way? He hoped not. “Do you want to be her friend, then?”

Vanitas shrugged and looked away, shifting his weight.

Selphie returned before they could get any further. She squealed in delight when she saw what movie they’d picked. “Yes! This is one of the best ones!”

As they started to watch it, Sora really couldn’t see what made it one of the best. It was just like any other romance – girl meets guy, they hook up after some teasing will they/won’t they, some conflict drives them apart, and then they work out their differences and live happily ever after. Sora had the whole plot figured out within minutes. Of course, that’s not to say he didn’t love it, because even if he was too embarrassed to admit it, he totally believed in true love and finding eternal happiness with your special someone. It was hard not to after meeting all those princesses. 

Vanitas, predictably, struggled with the concept a lot more. He asked a ton of awkward questions about romance and relationships that Sora was very grateful Selphie answered. But he showed genuine interest in the movie and tried to follow it as best he could, which was kind of sweet.

“They’re _touching_ each other again,” Vanitas commented as the main guy hugged his girlfriend to his chest. “Why do they keep doing that?”

“Because they’re in love, haven’t you been listening?” Selphie said. “It’s a way to show love.”

“Okay, but why?” Vanitas asked.

“What do you mean, why? It’s nice. Intimate. It shows you’re comfortable with someone,” Selphie answered.

“But I thought you aren’t supposed to hurt people you love. At least not on purpose. They said that in the movie we watched at your house, too.” Vanitas crossed his arms and looked at the couple on screen as if they were an interesting riddle in need of solving. 

“Huh? Of course not. Where does hurting people come into it?” Selphie had shifted her attention off the screen to Vanitas. 

Vanitas didn’t like being touched. Sora knew that. “You think touching someone hurts?” he asked.

Vanitas’s attention flickered to him briefly so he could scowl at him. “I don’t _think_ that, I know it,” he snapped.

“But touching people doesn’t hurt,” Selphie said. “I mean, it can, but not what they’re doing.” She gestured at the screen. “They’re gentle with each other. So it feels nice.”

Sora frowned. He very slowly reached across Selphie, trying to telegraph his movements as obviously as he could. Vanitas eyed him warily and tensed, but didn’t move away. Sora carefully, lightly rested his fingers on the back of Vanitas’s hand, which immediately curled into a fist. Vanitas’s eyes narrowed.

“Does that hurt?” Sora asked. 

“It doesn’t feel nice,” Vanitas said. 

Sora slid his fingers up so they rested on Vanitas’s forearm. “What about that?” 

“I still don’t like it.”

His fingers shifted again to rest on Vanitas’s inner forearm, by his pulse point. “And now?”

Vanitas knocked his hand away. “Stop.”

“Hmm.” Sora sat back. “You really don’t like it?”

“No,” Vanitas answered. “Why would I? It burns. It’s weird.”

“It’s not supposed to burn,” Selphie said. “And you can’t just go your whole life not being touched.”

“Why not?” Vanitas huffed.

“Because! Everyone does it. It’s nice to hug your friend or kiss your crush.”

“Yeah!” Sora agreed. “I can’t imagine never touching Riku or Kairi or my parents.”

“Well, good for you,” Vanitas sneered. “I don’t see why I should bother. You don’t gain anything from it.”

“That’s not true!” Sora protested. “It makes you feel nice. That’s not nothing.”

“And it’s an important part of a relationship!” Selphie rotated her torso to more fully face Vanitas. “What are you going to do if you find your true love and then you can’t even kiss them? That’s horrible!”

“I don’t think I have one of those,” Vanitas said.

“Yes, you do!” Selphie cried. “Everyone does!”

Vanitas looked skeptical, but he said, “Then they’ll have to deal with me not touching them.”

“But that’s so sad!”

“Maybe you could… get used to it,” Sora suggested. “Like… what’s the word? That type of therapy you can do for stuff you’re afraid of?”

“Oh, exposure therapy!” Selphie gasped. “Like, touch someone on the shoulder or something for a while, and work your way up to hugging and stuff?”

“No,” Vanitas said flatly. “I don’t see the point.”

Sora pouted, but then brightened up as a thought occurred to him. “You said it felt nice when I was touching that Unversed the other day. Maybe you could get to the point where it feels like that when someone’s touching you, directly. Then you could feel nice and the Unversed wouldn’t have to be involved!”

That seemed to crack his resolve a bit. “…It could feel the same?”

Sora nodded encouragingly.

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Vanitas turned his attention back to the TV with a huff.

Sora was beginning to suspect that “I don’t know” was Vanitas-code for “yes, but I don’t want to say that.” Which meant Sora had probably just won. But he would ask again later, to be sure. Probably after reading up on exposure therapy to make sure that that was actually what he was thinking about, and to make sure he would do it properly and not accidentally make Vanitas feel even worse about physical contact. 

He tuned back into the movie before his thoughts could spiral off out of control. The main couple were fighting now, something about cheating? The man was insisting he hadn’t, so it was probably a misunderstanding. Vanitas said as much and then proceeded to ask a bunch of questions about cheating and monogamy and why couples fight, and Sora settled in for a long rest of the movie with a sigh.

***

That night, when Vanitas had poofed out into the darkness and Sora had safely dropped Selphie off back at her own house, he got another call from Chip and Dale. More Heartless, this time in Wonderland. And no, Donald and Goofy couldn’t join him today either, as they were much too busy preparing for His Majesty’s birthday celebrations, and oh, also you’re invited to that, please tell Riku as well. Thanks so much, Sora!

Sora went to the Gummi ship on autopilot and set the course. It didn’t even occur to him to invite his friends along for support until he was halfway there, and by then it seemed too late to turn back. Shrugging, he continued on alone.

It was another very small group of Heartless, waiting for him in the queen’s court. Sora’s thoughts stilled as he slipped into battle, nothing on his mind beyond blocking and striking. A familiar feeling, and an almost comfortable one after all his recent days spent thinking and thinking. It was so nice to let go. He could almost imagine Donald calling out a spell or Goofy surging forward to push back the Heartless trying to flank him. 

It was over too soon, and Sora was back in bed with plenty time to get a decent night’s rest. But although his mind remained relatively quiet, he couldn’t sleep much that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sora completely fails to notice that selphie is also skipping school, and in fact probably walked out of school in the middle of the day. like i used to fantasize about doing... damn my high schools closed campus 
> 
> so glad this story is officially fucking novella length and yet ive never managed to come close to beating nanowrimo, very cool of me


End file.
